Marble Falls girls basketball splits series with Lampasas

CAPTION: Marble Falls junior guard Kenadie Cotton hit a big 3-pointer against Lampasas to give the Lady Mustangs some momentum. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team lost to Lampasas 41-38 Jan. 30 to earn a valuable split in the series with the Lady Mustangs.

Now the teams have identical 3-4 District 24-4A records with one game remaining in the regular season. Marble Falls, which is on a three-game losing streak, is at Lago Vista (0-6) Friday, Feb. 2, and takes a bye Tuesday, Feb. 6, while Lampasas takes a bye Friday and faces Jarrell (4-2) Tuesday, Feb. 6.

Currently Burnet (6-0) is at the top of the district standings with two games remaining. Jarrell is second.

No squad wants to finish fourth in the district standings because that team will face defending state champion Waco La Vega in the first round of the playoffs.

“(The Lampasas loss) makes (the Lago Vista game) that much bigger,” Marble Falls head coach John Berkman said. “We can’t afford to lose or we’ll put ourselves at the bottom. It’s a big game.”

The Lady Badgers began the contest against Marble Falls with an 8-0 run thanks to two 3-pointers by freshman forward Mia Mulcahy.

Marble Falls answered with a 7-0 run thanks to a 3-pointer by junior guard Kenadie Cotton and back-to-back buckets from senior center Lexie Edwards, who used power dribbles to get to the hoop.

Lampasas junior guard Addison Borchardt answered with an old-fashioned 3-point play, while Marble Falls sophomore center Leslie Reynoso scored on her own offensive rebound, and Mulcahy hit a free throw for a 11-10 Lampasas lead after the first period.

The Lady Mustangs began the second quarter on a 9-0 run with Edwards either scoring or distributing the ball for buckets. She and Reynoso and junior forward Bethany Fry scored all around the lane. But Mulcahy scored six points to trim the deficit to 20-17. Marble Falls fouled Borchardt, who was attempting a shot at midcourt, and was awarded three free throws. She buried all three to tie the game at 20-20 at the half.

Mulcahy scored 14 of her team’s 20 points. The Lady Badgers’ six points came from free throws.

Marble Falls began the second half on a 13-3 run thanks to buckets from Cotton, Edwards and Fry, and a lay-up off a steal and free throws from junior forward Kylie Roberts for a 33-23 advantage with 1 minute and 11 seconds left in the period.

But Borchardt’s two free throws triggered a 9-0 Lampasas run to trim the deficit to 33-32 with 7:03 remaining in the contest.

Edwards answered with a drive to the bucket from the high post. Then the teams exchanged free throws. Edwards tied the contest at 38-38 by hitting both of hers and sophomore guard Rayleigh Crim hit another to give the Lady Mustangs a 38-37 advantage with 49 seconds left.

Mulcahy scored the final four points, including two free throws with 3 seconds left to ensure the win.

Lampasas outscored Marble Falls 16-5 in the fourth quarter.

Mulcahy led with 18 points, while Borchardt had 14, sophomore forward Johnnie Lewis scored all 7 of her points in the second half, and freshman guard Abra White had a bucket in the final stanza.

Lampasas scored eight 2-pointers, four 3-pointers and were 13 of 21 from the foul line.

“(Mulcahy) shot the ball well,” Berkman said. “We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. (At halftime) we talked about where she was and reacting quickly to where she was.”

Marble Falls dropped in ten 2-pointers, two 3-pointers and were 12 of 25 from the free throw line.

Berkman summed up the contest in three categories.

“Turnovers, rebounds and free throws,” he said. “We played worse today than we did the last time we faced them. I think we were more focused (in the first round). We weren’t focused at Jarrell (Jan. 23), we weren’t focused tonight.”

Edwards scored 14 points, while Cotton added 6, Roberts and Reynoso each dropped in 5, Fry added 4, junior guard Caitlynn Johnson contributed 3, and Crim finished with 1.

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