Lady Flames have several objectives for tournament

As part of the Fredericksburg Tournament, the Lady Flames  play Comfort at 1 p.m. and Blanco at 4 p.m. today. They follow that with Saturday games against Bandera at 10:30 a.m. and Fredericksburg at 1:30 p.m.

“You know when you’re going to play, it’s going to be one of those where we get a true challenge,” head coach Jerry English said. 

Conditioning is at the top of the list for his squad, he said. 

“Until the tournament, I did not feel like we’d done enough to condition like we normally have,” the coach said. “It’s the full 32 minutes I’m looking for.”

The second is to find a seventh and eighth player to bring into the game, English said.

Once he can get in a seven-player rotation, all he has to do is decide when to bring them in, he said. 

Finally, he wants to see what his posts can do.

“That’s still a concern,” English said. “We haven’t had foul trouble yet, but we’re looking at almost no flexibility. This will be my No. 1 priority – how we step up against deeper teams.”

He believes Fredericksburg will pose a good challenge for his team, especially now that the Lady Billies are in District 8-3A.

He hopes to be able to play some of the younger players at crucial times as well, he said. 

“When you get down to it, do those girls know their roles?,” he said. “Ours the last two years did know. You just know what’s expected of you. I’m not sure that’s necessarily true yet.”

Junior point guard Kendra Field has caught fire, averaging about 30 points a game and has scored free throws to help give her squad from breathing room.

“She has this real rare ability against some defenders to slide to create a foul instead of charging,” English said. 

That was especially true in the win against the Texas School of the Deaf Nov. 17.

A defender was in good position to take a charge, but Field understood what to do to keep from picking up the offensive foul. Instead, officials called the defender for blocking.

“Kendra slid at the last second,” the coach said. 

She has shown a long-range shooter’s touch as well, English said, by knocking down several three-pointers to bury opponents.