Marble Falls girls basketball loses to Gatesville
CAPTION: Marble Falls senior guard Rayleigh Crim shows no hesitation in attacking the basket in the first half. Photo by Ernesto Rivera/Riv-On Photography
The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team lost to Gatesville 44-42 Feb. 16 in the first round of the Class 4A Division I playoffs.
The Lady Mustangs (16-18, 7-3) end their season as the District 24-4A runners-up.
“The time, the effort, the buy-in, all the stuff that happens in a gym when stands are empty – it showed up this year,” head coach Adley Canales said. “They made tremendous strides from a seven-win season last year to 16 this year, from going 0-10 in district (last season) to going 7-3 and getting second place with a team that started four underclassmen and one senior. So yeah, just says a lot about the work that went in when nobody was looking, the buy-in of the girls and just their mindsets to be successful.”
Marble Falls trailed 37-36 at the beginning of the final stanza. Foul trouble and injuries forced the team to lean heavily on reserves.
“They kept us in it,” Canales said. “Our thing is when we go to the bench, we just don’t want to drop-off and there was no drop-off. So yeah it’s all we could ask for. They were asked to fill some big shoes, and they did a great job.”
Gatesville took a 39-37 lead thanks to a pair of free throws by senior center Emma Pollard.
Then the next play exemplified the kind of night the Lady Mustangs were experiencing.
Sophomore forward Addy Wood stole the ball but lost it, got it back, got it to a teammate, who couldn’t get a handle on it. Gatesville senior guard Taylor Sanderson picked it up and was fouled as she was shooting.
In between foul shots, the Marble Falls faithful rose to give senior center Leslie Reynoso, who had exited the contest with an injury with about a minute left in the first half, a standing ovation.
She was immediately fouled and nailed two free throws to tie the game at 39-39 with 4:17 left.
With 3:40 remaining, every Lady Mustang starter had checked back in.
Freshman forward Emma Martin scored on a long jumper just inside the arc thanks to an assist from sophomore guard Mikaela Valdez to tie the game at 41-41.
Though Pollard scored from the low block for a 43-41 advantage, the final two minutes were all about the defense.
Valdez hit a free throw to trim the deficit to 43-42, but Gatesville touched the ball last before it went out of bounds with 11.27 seconds remaining.
The Lady Mustangs got two shots off in the final 10.15 seconds but missed both and Pollard hit a free throw for the final score.
While people may remember the ending, Canales indicated the game shouldn’t have come down to that.
“Everybody sees that as a live shot,” he said. “That’s what could have put us ahead by one. You can say that’s what (ended the season). But there are a lot of things before that that we could have done. That’s what people remember, but that’s not fair to say. We missed free throws, we had a bunch of turnovers, we had some unforced errors. If we would have slowed down and taken care of the ball, we’d never even get in that situation to begin with.”
In the first half, Marble Falls was rolling, building an 18-8 lead that went to 24-8.
But the Lady Mustangs were called for traveling, which lead to a Gatesville 3-pointer. The Lady Hornets got a steal from their full-court defense that resulted in a lay-up to trim the deficit to 24-14 midway through the second quarter.
And as Gatesville was starting to get in a groove Reynoso exited and foul trouble caused the team to lean heavily on reserves.
By halftime Marble Falls led 28-21.
“In the first half we were able to match their physicality, we were able to master their size,” the coach said. “They went on a 13-4 run to close out the first half. To withstand the run and still be up seven, that means we’re in good shape, we’re doing our jobs.”
Gatesville began the second half with a 3-pointer from the left side 10 seconds into the third period. But the Lady Mustangs refused to give up the lead thanks to Wood’s two free throws and three buckets with an assist each from senior guard Rayleigh Crim and sophomore guard Ally Moran.
But the Lady Hornets took the lead for good at 35-34 on a drive and curl by Pollard with 2:06 remaining in the third stanza. By the end Gatesville led 37-36.
Pollard led all scorers with 27 points but scored 11 of the Lady Hornets’ 16 third-period points and all seven of their fourth quarter points.
“She had nine (in the first half) and Leslie had seven – that’s awash to me,” the coach said. “In the third quarter alone, she puts up 11 when Leslie’s not in. And nothing against any of the other girls, it’s just physics. Leslie’s our biggest girl, our strongest girl, our most experienced post. And when it’s two seniors going at it, they know how to play each other. And we just didn’t have anybody else after Leslie to match up in size. We kept it close the rest of the game. It’s not like they extended the lead and ran away with it, which is all the credit to everybody else.”
Wood led with 18 points followed by Reynoso with 9 points and 12 rebounds despite missing at least 12 of the 32 minutes, Valdez with 4, Crim, Martin and Moran scored 3 apiece, and junior Kenley Virdell finished with 2.
In the locker room, Canales told his players some hard truths.
“I just told them not to hang their heads,” he said. “Don’t let (this game) dictate how their season went. There’s a lot of things to be proud of, a lot of things they did, that it’ll be expected they do. We weren’t projected to make the playoffs, we weren’t projected to do anything. And they proved a lot of people wrong, and those are things they need to remember.”
CAPTION: Marble Falls freshman forward Emma Martin adds to the Lady Mustangs’ first half lead. Photo by Ernesto Rivera/Riv-On Photography
