Marble Falls girls basketball loses to Jarrell, focuses on playoffs
CAPTION: Marble Falls sophomore guard Mikaela Valdez and the Lady Mustangs return to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team lost to Jarrell 39-32 Feb. 10 in District 24-4A play to end the regular season.
The Lady Mustangs (16-17, 7-3 district runners-up) will face Gatesville (8-18, 3-7) for a bi-district title in the Class 4A Division I playoffs at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16, at Gatesville.
Coaches flipped for the right to host the game. The Lady Hornets won the flip.
“I have all the confidence in the world in my girls,” Marble Falls head coach Adley Canales said. “It doesn’t matter what gym we’re in. We’ll show up ready to go. Best case, we’re playing at home and worst case, we’re going over there and we already played over there and won over there. That was the mindset going into that.”
Against Jarrell, the Lady Mustangs got the start they wanted with a 12-9 lead after the first period. But the Lady Cougars responded with a 10-0 run and outscored Marble Falls 15-5 in the second stanza to take a 24-17 advantage into the break.
From there, both teams dropped in eight points in the third quarter and seven points in the fourth quarter.
“We had three really good defensive quarters,” Canales said. “We just went away from it in the second. We got sloppy and a bunch of turnovers and really just went away from what was working for us. They got us with the pressure, they sped us up, and we recovered in the third and fourth quarters, but the second quarter was the difference.”
Sophomore forward Addy Wood led with 15 points followed by freshman forward Emma Martin with 12, sophomore guard Ally Moran scored 3, and junior forward Alexis Sprott and senior center Leslie Reynoso each finished with a point.
The Lady Mustangs now focus their attention on Gatesville and center Emma Pollard and shooting guard Taylor Sanderson, who are both seniors.
“(Pollard’s) big, she’s tall. She’s taller than anybody we have,” Canales said. “They have a shooter who can knock down 3-pointers. They like to go inside out by working through their post.”
He also knows the Lady Hornets have improved since their December meeting.
“We’ve seen film, we’ve seen their scores,” the coach said. “They had to finish and earn a spot in the playoffs, and that district’s tough with (Waco) La Vega, Lorena, (Waco) Robinson, China Spring, Gatesville and (Waco) Connally. It’s not an easy district to get out of, so if they hadn’t improved, they wouldn’t have gotten out of district.”
While Canales wasn’t happy with the loss, he views it as an opportunity to reinforce a key point.
Marble Falls handily beat Jarrell 49-28 Jan. 23 only to lose in the rematch. The Lady Mustangs already defeated Gatesville 43-35 Dec. 30.
“You always want to go in on high note, but at the same time a loss can reset you,” he said. “We beat Jarrell the first time, they got us the second time. We beat Gatesville earlier in the year. We know it can happen again if we don’t show up prepared. So we’re taking the loss as a learning point. It’s never fun to lose you, never go out on a loss. We’re using this as motivation just to reset. What we’ve done at this point is great. It set us up for the playoffs, but now it’s one game at a time. And we have to earn it. Gatesville is well coached just like Jarrell. They’re going to make adjustments, and we have to be able to match them. We’re a young group and you have to learn how to compete every night.”
