Lady Stangs go 2-0
The Lady Mustangs defeated Pflugerville Connally, 50-43, Friday and Killeen Shoemaker, 53-29, Nov. 13. The big change between the two contests were turnovers, Lady Mustangs head coach Stephanie Gamble said.
Marble Falls committed 13 in the win against Connally but had 26 in the victory over Shoemaker.
“That was a huge difference,” she said.
The coach also was happy with the way Marble Falls played its offense.
“The kids did a much better job of being patient and executing the offensive sets,” she said.
Gamble was pleased with the resiliency of her players when it was a five-point game.
“We didn’t panic,” she said. “We kept working hard and took advantage of what was given to us.”
Ultimately, the difference was Marble Falls enforced its will on Connally.
“We just did a better job of blocking out and slowing the pace of the game,” Gamble said. “We exerted energy on the defensive end.”
What concerned her was the Lady Cougars’ fastbreak layups, she said. But there were not enough to secure the win.
“I’m very pleased with our ability to take care of the ball and control the offense and make better decisions,” she said.
Katie Mosher led the team with 11 points followed by Lindsay Ansley and Katy Cooke with 10 each, and Amanda Gray with nine. Gamble was pleased with the number of players in double figures.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “You have to have balance in order to win down the stretch. We were playing team basketball. We played as a team.”
Cooke was able to score on dribble drives and was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final minutes of the game.
“They tried to foul us in the end,” the coach said. “She knocked them down.”
It also helped that fewer players were in foul trouble unlike the first contest.
Ansley had seven rebounds followed by Erica De la Hoya with five.
Cooke recorded five assists, and De la Hoya had three.
The Lady Mustangs began the season with a win over Shoemaker.
“We’re glad to get a win, even though we played ugly,” Gamble said. “That’s always a plus for us.”
She was happy to score 53 points, noting Marble Falls was able to score fastbreak baskets.
“I wouldn’t say we pushed the pace,” Gamble said. “We got 22 defensive rebounds. We did a decent job on the boards. Defensively, we did a good job.”
A game is won on the defensive end, so the coach was pleased with how stingy the Lady Mustangs were against a team that looked like it would exploit their statures.
“I thought we did a relatively good job playing defense,” she said. “We were outsized in every position. But we were being where we needed to be. We were turning around and blocking out.”
The Lady Mustangs had 10 steals, 12 assists, 22 defensive rebounds and seven offensive rebounds.
Ansley recorded eight rebounds, while Gray pulled down six, and Mosher and Cooke each had five rebounds.
Gray and Mosher led all scorers with 12 points.
Marble Falls had 26 turnovers, which is an immediate concern, the coach said.
She also wanted the players to allow offensive plays to develop more, she said.
“We didn’t do a good job being patient,” she said. “Which will be an Achille’s heel down the road.”
Gamble also wants her players to cut back on their fouls.
“Too much grabbing and reaching,” she said. “But we survived. This was our first game of the season. I expected us to be a little sloppy.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com