Marble Falls girls basketball loses to Jarrell

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior center Lexie Edwards’ ability to score in different ways helps her team as the Lady Mustangs are trying to earn a playoff spot. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team lost to Jarrell 50-35 Jan. 26 in a District 24-4A matchup.

The result means the Lady Mustangs (3-3) and the Lady Cougars (3-2) are tied for second in the standings. The reason is because this is the second time the two squads met in district play. Marble Falls prevailed the first time 55-54.

“We’re still in good shape to make the playoffs,” head coach John Berkman said.

In the rematch, Jarrell set an immediate tone, racing to a 17-2 lead in the first period by taking advantage of the Lady Mustangs’ offensive mishaps.

“We had a slow start,” Berkman said.

Still, he added, his players refused to go down without a fight. They responded with a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to 17-9 going into the second quarter.

The Lady Mustangs continued that trend and outscored the Lady Cougars 12-9 though Jarrell led 28-19 at the half.

Marble Falls stepped back onto the court with a determination to get stops and score. By the end of the third quarter, the Lady Mustangs made 8 points and allowed 6. The Lady Cougars still had the advantage 34-27.

But Jarrell settled into an offensive rhythm during the final 8 minutes of play and put the game out of reach.

While Berkman complimented his players for their determination to turn the scoreboard in their favor, he pointed out the difficulty of overcoming a double-digit deficit when one quarter of a game is already in the books.

“You get yourself in a hole and can’t get out of it,” he said. “You can’t win games.”

He said Jarrell took advantage of Marble Falls’ unforced turnovers from bad passes, overthrows and other mishaps that go back to three elements.

“Nervousness, youth and not being ready to play,” he said. “It’s not waiting until the game is going to be ready to play. And Jarrell made a lot of shots in the first quarter. We’d throw it over our heads after we broke their press.”

The Lady Cougars hit four 3-pointers, two 2-pointers and were 3 for 4 from the foul line.

Meanwhile, Marble Falls had 16 shot attempts and 22 turnovers.

“You don’t get the shot attempt and then you give it back,” the coach said. “That makes it tough.”

Senior center Lexie Edwards led all scorers with 15 points followed by junior forward Bethany Fry with 8, sophomore center Leslie Reynoso added 5, junior forward Kylie Roberts dropped in 4, and sophomore guard Rayleigh Crim finished with 3.

“Lexie had a couple of jump shots through the double teams,” Berkman said. “Lexie does a really good job of not forcing the issue. She made great passes to Bethany and Leslie. She makes good moves getting to the rim. She’s doing her part.”

Jarrell freshman guard Aniya Taylor, who scored 28 points against Marble Falls in the first game, finished with 13. Senior guard Jasmine Benavidez and senior center Laresha Cuff each added 10, and junior guard Lamyre’ Fitch finished with 9. Six of Cuff’s points came in the fourth quarter.

Marble Falls welcomes Lampasas Tuesday, Jan. 30, to Max Copeland Gym. The junior varsity plays at 5 p.m., the varsity at 6:30 p.m., and the freshmen at 8 p.m.

The Lady Badgers tied Burnet 19-19 at the half before the Lady Dawgs pulled away in the second half for a 49-39 victory to remain unbeaten in district play.

Berkman said the Max gives the Lady Mustangs a lot of positives, especially in a key district contest where Marble Falls has the opportunity to finish with a high seed, which is what they want.

“We’re getting really good support,” he said. “Our kids feed off that really well. We feel like we do have a home-court advantage. We should show up with confidence.”

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