Marble Falls girls basketball beats Blanco

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior center Lexie Edwards (front) cuts off lanes to the basket that gave Blanco fits during the Lady Mustangs’ win Dec. 21. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team crushed Blanco 44-22 Dec. 21, a Christmas present it gave itself before taking a few days off.

“We locked in from the beginning and were engaged,” head coach John Berkman said. “We did a much better job of controlling the game.”

Marble Falls led 5-3 with 1 minute and 40 seconds left in the first period. By the end the Lady Mustangs to an11-6 advantage.

Junior forward Kylie Roberts, junior Caitlynn Johnson and senior center Lexie Edwards each hit 3-pointers to highlight a 17-0 second quarter for a 28-6 lead at the half.

Midway through the third period, the Lady Mustangs led 34-10 en route to a 42-13 advantage headed into the final quarter.

Marble Falls ended the contest with 42 rebounds, 9 assists, 8 steals and 5 blocks. Blanco had 22 rebounds, 2 assists and 8 steals.

The key stat for Berkman, however, were the turnovers.

“I don’t have it in front of me, but we had less turnovers,” he said. “And we were rebounding better.”

He noted that his team had good field goal percentages the last several games. The challenge, he said, was getting more open looks and finding an offensive flow that resulted in made baskets, which was difficult since opponents had been putting massive pressure on ball-handlers and were forcing steals and turnovers.

The Blanco contest was different.

“We got more rebounds and more shots, which allowed us to control the pace,” Berkman said. “We really felt like we played defense really well. We weren’t giving up as many transition points. And we limited their second-chance points.”

Edwards led with 13 points and had several blocked shots. She was on the backend of the half-court defense and slid from one side of the lane to the other to help defend. Needless to say, Blanco players were surprised to see her when they thought they had a wide-open lay-up and that path was suddenly blocked.

Junior forward Bethany Fry chipped in 11 points, marking her third consecutive game of scoring double digits. Simply, the Lady Mustangs are benefitting greatly from Fry’s offensive production, Berkman said.

“She’s had a bunch of scoring,” he said.

Roberts added 9 points, including the 3-pointer from the left side of the floor. Roberts’ shot forced Blanco to defend the outside and opened up the lane for her teammates to go one on one and hit high percentage shots, the coach said.

“Kylie hit a 3-pointer and had two nice drives and finishes,” he said. “Those three picked their spots, and they took shots that were good quality shots.”

Sophomore shooting guard Rayleigh Crim added back-to-back buckets, one that came on a fast break, which showed that each Lady Mustang contributed on both ends of the floor.

“We’re finding a little bit of a rhythm where we won’t depend on one player to do the scoring for us,” Berkman said. “Our guards did a better job of being under control and getting the ball to our players. Multiple players scoring took pressure off. The defense can’t focus in on one player. Our young players grew up a little bit, and we’re gaining that experience.”

He noted the victory makes the five-day holiday break much more enjoyable.

“It’s always big when you go into a break with a win,” he said. “I told the girls I felt like today’s game was a carryover. We’re looking for consistency. If we can play well consistently, things will roll. It’s us peaking at the right time.”

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