Marble Falls girls basketball crushes Jarrell

CAPTION: The Marble Falls Lady Mustangs celebrate the victory against Jarrell by wearing T-shirts and eating cookies that head coach Adley Canales’ birthday. Courtesy photo

The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team stomped Jarrell 49-28 Jan. 23 to end the first round of District 24-4A play.

Tipoff was moved up by two hours to ensure everyone could get home before the inclement weather arrived.

“This was a great game,” head coach Adley Canales said. “We executed on what we wanted to do. We dictated the tempo and the pace.”

Marble Falls (13-15, 4-1) led 11-5 after the first period thanks to 3-pointers from sophomore guards Mikaela Valdez and Ally Moran. Their long-range shooting isn’t a secret as the Lady Cougars yelled “shooter, shooter” when they caught the ball. Still, Marble Falls buried its opportunities.

Canales noted the outside shooting gives his long-range bombers self-confidence and their teammates confidence in them as they work the offense.

“It gives us confidence to find the best shot possible,” he said. “You’re able to swing the basketball around if you have shooters.”

By the end of the first half, the Lady Mustangs led 26-8 because they showed controlled aggression with their defense and an ability to score quickly.

“It starts with our press breaker,” the coach said. “We were able to break their press and turn those into buckets and in the half court, we were able to play inside out. It opened up the shooters on the outside.”

Sophomore forward Addy Wood tipped several balls for deflections that resulted in her teammates getting the steals and passing ahead to her for quick baskets.

“That’s what we want,” the coach said. “She’s (tall) and makes it difficult to get the ball past her. She does get her hands on a lot of deflections. She’s at the top of the key and the first one leading.”

When the Lady Cougars (16-11, 2-3) managed to cross mid court, the Lady Mustangs clamped down in the lane and refused to give up anything easy. Meanwhile, the guards also covered the 3-point line and didn’t allow open looks.

That’s why Canales was so pleased with the defensive results where Jarrell scored a total of eight points in 16 minutes. But he also was happy that his players didn’t let up in the second half and increased the lead to 37-16 headed into the final stanza.

“We knew they were going to come out in the second half and give us everything they had,” Canales said. “They’re well coached, and we knew they weren’t going to roll over.”

Seven Lady Mustangs scored led by Wood, who hit a career high 18 points followed by Moran with nine, freshman forward Emma Martin added seven, senior center Leslie Reynoso and Valdez each contributed five, junior Kenley Virdell scored four, and junior Alexis Sprott added one.

Marble Falls welcomes Burnet Wednesday, Jan. 28, in a varsity only contest at 5 p.m. and Lampasas Friday, Jan. 30, with the junior varsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:30 p.m.

While the way the Lady Mustangs finished the first round “is huge for us,” Canales said the start to the second round is equally important.

“It’s a huge week for us,” he said. “We want to play well and execute.”