Lady Rattlers fend off Bastrop

SMHS has three in double figures

By Carl Harper

Not only did the winning ways continue for head coach Shad Scharlach and the San Marcos girl’s basketball team, but so did floor domination.

After defeating Anderson High School by double digits two days before Thanksgiving, the Lady Rattlers struck and poisoned Bastrop Tuesday night at the Snake Pit, 58-34.

San Marcos (6-3) had three different players score over 10 points including Roslind McKinney’s first double-double of the season. She sunk six shots for 12 points with 15 rebounds and one steal.

“I feel like I played better than I usually do and it felt good scoring tonight,” McKinney said. “We hit the boards tonight and played good defense.”

McKinney has posted double digit rebounds in all nine games this season, but usually leaves the offensive production to teammates Ashley Crayton and Jasmine Williams. Crayton and Williams each tallied 12 points as Ali Way grabbed nine and Dashia Williams snagged eight.

“Roslind was huge for us tonight,” Sharlach said. “She was big on getting second chance shots and going up strong. She improves every single game and is becoming an absolute force inside. Our guard play with Ali, Jasmine, Ashley and Dashia was great and we also got some good help off the bench.”

San Marcos got off to a rocky start and was trailing 8-7 at the end of the first quarter. After a pair of jump shots by Crayton and a wide open three-pointer by Way, the Rattlers had a 19-12 lead with 3:30 left until halftime and was in the middle of a run that lasted into the third quarter.

A 24-4 run was finally snapped with 6:35 left in the third quarter after Bears’ Willnisha Robinson hit a free throw. At that point San Marcos was up 31-13 and watched its lead grow to as much as 22 points before Bastrop clipped it down to a 14 midway through the fourth quarter.

The Rattlers spent the remainder of the game forcing turnovers and scoring on fast break points.

“Everybody came in and contributed some good things tonight,” Scharlach said. “Overall we had a slow start but once we settled down a little bit in transition and started finishing lay ups, that became a big difference. The half-court press we did in the second half broke the game open for us and allowed us to take control of the game.”

San Marcos will head to the three-day Austin Bowie Varsity Tournament on Thursday. The Lady Rattlers are slated to play Dripping Springs at 11:30 a.m. and Stony Point at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. They will play O’Conner at 4 p.m. on Friday.