Marble Falls girls basketball beats Lampasas, prepares for Waco Connally
CAPTION: Marble Falls junior Kenadie Cotton (0) helps the Lady Mustangs defeat Lampasas and enter the Class 4A playoffs with some momentum. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team beat Lampasas 40-33 Feb. 9 in a seeding game.
The Lady Mustangs (4-5) will enter the Class 4A playoffs as District 24-4A’s No. 3 seed and now prepare to face Waco Connally (23-11, 7-3 District 23-4A runner-up) at 7:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, at Georgetown East View High School.
Head coach John Berkman said the win against Lampasas illustrated two truths.
“I would say it’s about us being mentally tough,” he said. “It allowed us to show we were physically better. We mentally dropped the ball the last time we played them (a 41-38 loss at Max Copeland Gym Jan. 30). This time, we didn’t mentally drop the ball.”
The Lady Badgers (3-6) took an 11-6 lead after the first period.
But the Lady Mustangs responded in the second stanza, outscoring Lampasas 14-11 thanks to a 9-0 run to close out the half. The Lady Badgers led 22-20 at the break.
“A big part of it was we were really patient,” Berkman said. “We had silly turnovers, and we talked about being patient and not turning the ball over. We gave up offensive rebounds early.”
Marble Falls emphasized continuing to control the boards and limiting Lampasas to one shot per possession in the second half.
As a result, the Lady Mustangs led 26-25 going into the final quarter and outscored the Lady Badgers 14-8 in the final eight minutes.
“A large part of that was defensive rebounding and taking care of the basketball,” Berkman said. “It’s huge rebounding wise. We haven’t seemed very interested in it. (On Feb. 9), we really wanted the ball. It’s all about effort. If you really want a rebound, you go after the ball. We were going after the ball.”
Senior center Lexie Edwards led with 13 points followed by Junior guard Kenadie Cotton with 11 points, none bigger than the 3 free throws she hit with 45 seconds left to keep the lead.
As a team, Marble Falls was 10 for 15 from the foul line.
“Those things down the stretch — to be calm and finish the game — were big,” Berkman said. “I’m really proud of the way we played. We were under control and confident.”
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