Marble Falls girls basketball loses to Harker Heights

CAPTION: Marble Falls freshman Mikaela Valdez gets control of the ball before pushing the pace. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High girls basketball team lost to Killeen Harker Heights 38-21 Dec. 3.

The Lady Knights led for most of the contest.

“It’s a learning lesson for us,” Lady Mustangs head coach Adley Canales said. “We play teams on the schedule to make us better. They’re a big (Class) 6A school — physical, athletic. I think they had 4 to the 5 starters who are 6 feet or taller. We want to challenge ourselves.”

Harker Heights mixed up its defenses. Sometimes the Lady Knights pressed. Other times, they picked up the Lady Mustangs at midcourt in a man-to-man defense. At times, they were in a zone.

But their quick hands and ability to move from sideline to sideline fast, especially defensively, is what allowed the Lady Knights to slowly build their lead.  

Canales said it was important that his players see this type of opponent now before District 24-4A play begins in a few weeks.

“We are trying to prepare ourselves with the toughest schedule we can so that when we get to district, we’re not shocked by whatever’s thrown at us,” he said. “How much bigger were they in the post than us? We don’t want (district) to be the first time we see a team that is long, lanky and athletic.”

Senior guard Caity Johnson, freshman Mikaela Moran, junior guard Rayleigh Crim and junior center Leslie Reynoso each scored 4 points, senior guard Kenadie Cotton and sophomore Kenley Virdell dropped in 2 apiece, and freshman Ally Moran finished with 1.

The coach said the Lady Mustangs did better running their half-court offensive sets in the second half thanks to better handling the defensive pressure.

“Teams like that want to get you running, and they did a good job of that in the first half and they got us moving,” he said. “We got in our half-court sets and we were able to execute. We got them in foul trouble. We’re in the bonus every quarter, so it that was our goal, especially with their athleticism, to get to the free throw line.” 

Marble Falls is at the Deer Capital Classic in Llano Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 5-7. The Lady Mustangs face Bangs at 2:20 p.m. and Llano at 6:20 p.m. all at Llano High School.

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior Caity Johnson picks up her dribble and looks to either pass or shoot against Killeen Harker Heights. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro