Lady Stangs have ‘good 14 minutes,’ not enough to win against Cedar Park Vista Ridge
MARBLE FALLS — For one and a half periods, the Marble Falls High School girls basketball team looked like it was the squad ranked in the top 10 in Class 4A when the Lady Mustangs welcomed Cedar Park Vista Ridge.
Marble Falls (12-12, 3-3) had leads of five and nine points thanks to a 7-0 run during the match Jan. 10.
But then the real Lady Rangers (23-2, 5-0) showed up in the second half to win 55-34. Vista Ridge is ranked No. 9 in the latest Class 4A poll of the Texas Basketball Coaches Association.
"We played well," Lady Mustangs head coach Stephanie Gamble said. "We had a good 14 minutes I’d put up against anybody."
Vista Ridge called two timeouts in the opening 14 minutes, after Marble Falls built a 16-7 lead. That was thanks to a bucket from sophomore guard Sarah Stripling, and a layup from sophomore post Haley Stephens on an assist from senior guard Whitney Ulbricht.
But with five minutes and six seconds left in the half, Vista Ridge senior post Chinwe Duru scored from the low block to start an 18-0 run that gave her squad a 25-16 advantage at intermission.
Duru scored 12 of her team’s 19 third-quarter points. The 6-foot-3 player finished with a total of 22 points.
She emptied her arsenal, using a combination of drop steps, slides and backdoor moves to get free from sophomore post Teagan Hall and freshman post Hanna Wall.
"(Duru) is big. It’s hard," Gamble said. "Teagan did a great job on her. She got physical on her. Most of her shots, we contested. Down the stretch, she got some easy looks. When we were between her and the basket, she struggled. I’m really proud of Teagan’s effort and how hard she played throughout the game."
"She has a bunch of moves," Vista Ridge coach Mike Martin said. "She uses a bunch of shots. Our guards did a good job of getting her the ball."
Stripling finished with 16, while Stephens added eight, sophomore guard Blanca Fonseca and Wall each scored four, and Ulbricht finished with two.
Vista Ridge freshman guard JaPrese Dean dropped in 11.
Marble Falls will finish the first round of District 25-4A play 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at Leander Vandegrift, 9500 McNeil Drive in Austin.
"If we can play like this the rest of district, good things will happen," Gamble said.