Marble Falls girls basketball welcomes Harker Heights
CAPTION: Senior Kenadie Cotton (13) continues to set the pace for the Lady Mustangs’ plays. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
After hosting a competitive Hill Country Classic tournament Nov. 21-23, the Marble Falls High School girls basketball team took a break from the court and returns to another challenging week.
The Lady Mustangs (2-6) welcome Killeen Harker Heights at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, and will play at the Llano tournament Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 5-7.
The tournament features eight teams. Squads will get two games in pool play and record will dictate where they go into bracket play.
Head coach Adley Canales indicated this month is critical for the Lady Mustangs. They begin District 24-4A play Jan. 3 at home against defending district champion Burnet.
He is looking to see “continued growth” from his players.
“We want to see improvement on the stuff we’ve been working on,” he said. “We want to build off that.”
One area he saw improve during the Hill Country Classic was the Lady Mustangs’ ability to break the opponents’ full-court press. A full-court press is the other team’s full-court defense that features traps and forces offenses to make fast decisions with the aim of creating turnovers for more possessions and quick points.
If an offense can’t handle the other’s team’s full-court press, which can be short for pressure, the opponent will have the separation on the scoreboard to get a win. And most importantly, the results empower one team and discourage the other.
“Mentality, you have to be able to see the game, the whole floor, and be able to see the open passes,” Canales said. “It’s not forcing things. You have to think quickly, and we have to be strong enough to handle that.”
With a month left of the pre-district schedule, the coach said is witnessing the improvement in the squad and noted the court chemistry is getting better as players are becoming more comfortable in their roles and the rotation.
“We have (five) weeks till district starts,” he said. “Record and scoreboard doesn’t always reflect what we see. Our district is going to be tough.”
CAPTION: Senior Kylie Roberts always draws a crowd. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
