Marble Falls girls basketball loses to Lampasas

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior forward Kylie Roberts outraces Lampasas for a transition bucket. Photo by Christopher A. Miles/Christopher A. Miles Photography

The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team lost to Lampasas 39-35 Jan. 7 in District 24-4A play.

But the game didn’t start that way. The two teams exchanged baskets during the first half of the first period.

Trailing 8-7, senior forward Kylie Roberts connected on a 3-pointer from the left side then freshman forward Adalynn Wood completed a fast break with a bucket. Roberts answered with another fast break basket and Wood added a free throw for a 15-8 advantage going into the second quarter.

That opening stanza illustrated what the Lady Mustangs can do: dominate rebounding on both ends of the floor, limit opponents to one shot per possession while also crashing the offensive glass for multiple shot attempts per possession, and push the tempo to get high-percentage shots on the other end.

But the Lady Badgers (2-0) responded with a 14-4 run to take a 20-19 lead with 2 minutes and 7 seconds left in the half.

Wood’s turnaround jumper in the lane right before the horn sounded trimmed Marble Falls’ deficit to 22-21 at the intermission.

Marble Falls junior center Leslie Reynoso tied the game at 22-22 12 seconds into the third quarter. But the Lady Mustangs didn’t score again until Roberts had back-to-back steals and layups to trim the deficit to 28-26 with 3 minutes left in the period. Still Lampasas took a 31-27 lead into the final quarter.

The Lady Mustangs went on a 9-2 run thanks to buckets from junior point guard Lila Pangborn, Reynoso and Wood for a 35-33 lead with 2:22 remaining in the game.

But the Lady Badgers ended the contest with a 6-0 run en route to the victory.

“I thought we showed great effort,” Lady Mustangs head coach Adley Canales said. “At times, we were able to get the (offensive) looks we wanted. Our trouble was finishing.”

To show just how strong of a rebounding team the Lady Mustangs are, consider this – their defensive rebounding percentage was 74 percent. That means that they got 3 out of every 4 balls that didn’t fall through the hoop.

That also means they force opponents to score on one-shot attempts because they are fantastic at controlling the glass.

“That’s always our goal is to limit people to one-shot attempt,” Canales said. “Rebounding normally isn’t our issue. We had 12 more rebounds than them. We had 16 offensive rebounds. We could get what we wanted and the looks we wanted.”

Now it’s about doing one of the most difficult tasks in all of sports – finishing.

“For me as a coach, we have to work on it,” he said. “The good thing is we have two days off between our next game. It’s easier to work on finishing as opposed to getting the shots. The shots are there. Our goal has to be to finish.”

Few players are better at finishing than Roberts, who had another double-double in back-to-back games. She had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 6 steals to lead the charge.

“We know she’s going to give us everything she has,” the coach said. “When she’s on the floor, she’s great for us. She’s been in these situations before. She’s a three-year letterman, and it shows. She’s like our Energizer Bunny.”

Lampasas senior guard Addison Borchardt led all scorers with 19 points.

Only a total of 15 free throws were attempted by both teams. Marble Falls was 4 for 9, while Lampasas was 3 for 6.

With only two games played it the district, Canales said it’s playing out the way coaches thought it might. Jarrell, with its 42-30 win against Taylor Jan. 7, is 2-0 with Lampasas. But Salado beat Burnet 63-54 in The Doghouse on the same night to give each team a 1-1 record.

Marble Falls and Taylor are still seeking their first district wins.

“We knew that coming into this season, every (district member) made the playoffs last year,” Canales said. “There are no easy games. There are no games where you can take a night off. It’s still early and there’s still a lot of games left. I think every game is going to be a dogfight.”

Marble Falls travels to Salado Friday, Jan. 10, with the subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:30 p.m.