Marble Falls girls basketball wins bi-district title
CAPTION: The Marble Falls Lady Mustangs’ banner says it all as they move on to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs. Courtesy photo
The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team beat China Spring 41-32 Feb. 13 to win another bi-district championship.
The Lady Mustangs (20-13, 6-2 District 24-4A champions) will face the winner of Wheatley and Caldwell, which play Tuesday, Feb. 14.
“We’re just really excited to get a playoff win,” head coach John Berkman said. “I’m proud of our girls for sticking to our game plan, even when we struggled in the second and third quarters.”
Marble Falls led 10-3 after the first period and 21-15 at the half. The Lady Cougars found a sense of renewal in the third stanza, outscoring the Lady Mustangs 13-2 to take a 28-23 advantage into the final period.
The China Spring side of the gym provided its players with more energy that helped the Lady Cougars take a 30-23 lead before Marble Falls responded.
“In the third quarter, we really struggled,” the coach said. “We had a lot of turnovers and gave them a lot of easy fastbreak lay-ups. But we calmed down and settled back down.”
Indeed, the Lady Mustangs went back to playing their brand of basketball: lockdown defense that creates extra offensive opportunities and making the opponent extremely uncomfortable. After Marble Falls cut it to a 30-28 deficit, the Lady Cougars called a timeout.
“I told the girls, ‘We have six minutes left. I think we’re more than two points better than this team,'” Berkman recalled saying.
Message received as the Lady Mustangs ended the quarter on a 13-2 run.
“We played defense and only gave up four points in the fourth quarter,” the coach said. “That (overall) 18-2 run was impressive.”
And many Lady Mustangs contributed. Senior guard Alyssa Berkman scored eight of her game-high 10 points on two 3-pointers and a fastbreak lay-up. Junior center Lexie Edwards dropped in five of her nine points in the final period. And seniors Tea Rodriguez, Emma Koziel and Lilly Nesrsta each made momentum-changing defensive plays that put China Spring on its heels.
“Our girls stepped up and made big plays,” the coach said. “We know it’s extremely important how you finish. One of the things we do well is close out opponents.”
Rodriguez added eight points, while senior guard Emma Bindseil scored five, Koziel contributed three, and sophomore forward Kylie Roberts, senior guard Mackenzie Farmer and Nesrsta each scored two.
Berkman was happy to get the win and noted the Lady Mustangs received an added bonus, too.
“The overall lesson is records don’t matter, what you’ve done up to this point doesn’t matter,” he said. “Every game from here on out is the biggest. You either win or go home. That’s why they call it the playoffs. Survive and advance is a little bit of what we did (against China Spring).”
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