Lady Flames win 50th consecutive district contest
AUSTIN — Faith Academy girls basketball coach Jerry English can understand why some fans may wonder why he’s not happier over a 48-27 victory.
That’s the score his Lady Flames (21-2, 3-0) recorded against Austin Waldorf Tuesday.
Faith Academy senior guard Tori Diamond scored nine points against Austin Waldorf Tuesday. Photo by Deeanna Piatek
Simply, his team didn’t play to its potential, and that always concerns the coach, who has 1,020 wins on his resume.
It also happened to be his squad’s 50th straight district win, a streak that dates back four years.
"I felt like it’s huge," he said. "I really felt like we can’t make a whole lot of the past."
But English can’t shake the disappointment, especially since he believes the effort simply wasn’t there.
Junior post Brooke Field scored 23 of the Lady Flames’ 48 points, but no one else was in double figures.
As a team, Faith took only 35 total shots, about one a minute, well below its season average.
The Lady Flames committed 25 turnovers to five assists, 19 steals and 27 rebounds.
"We have to somehow get a handle," English said. "We’re not playing and working as hard as we have."
What he wants to emphasize to his players is that against a good team in win-or-go home playoff system, this kind of effort can have disastrous results.
"It’s hugely dangerous," he said.
Up until now, his players have performed to their potential, he said.
"That’s been one of the really most pleasant surprises of the year," he said. "Our talks have always been that good teams have to have three consistent scorers."
Only five players showed up on the stat sheet, which makes it seem that coaches didn’t substitute. English said he rotated players during the contest. They just didn’t attempt a shot to show up on the shot chart.
"It’s not even the quality of shots," he said. "Our shot selection was horrible."
Now the Lady Flames must regroup to prepare for a showdown against Kerrville Our Lady of the Hills, ranked No. 11 in the small private schools poll of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. Faith is No. 3.
The game will be played 6 p.m. Thursday at The Fire Pit, three miles east of Marble Falls on RR 1431.