San Marcos — San Marcos guard Ashley Crayton had a tough time keeping it together during pregame ceremonies Friday night.

Crayton, one of two seniors on the Lady Rattlers, was about to play in her final home game. Domonique Miles, a fellow senior, was just getting warmed up.

Crayton and Miles led San Marcos in two different ways against Lehman, but both paths converged on a 54-41 win.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better way to send Ashley and Domono off,” Lady Rattlers head coach David Norris said. “They both did what we asked them to do tonight and it was huge, because they each had big roles.”

Crayton had the dirtiest job in trying to keep Lady Lobos guard BriAnna Garza quiet on the offensive end. San Marcos knew in order to beat Lehman, it would need to put a clamp on Garza and Crayton was the player to do that.

The crafty senior forced Garza outside and took away her best move — the one-handed crossover.

“She’s a player who I really like to guard because she makes me better,” Crayton said. “Her offense was good, but with that having to be my job, I was really trying to concentrate on that. She only had one hand, but mostly I had to take her to the left because she would only use her right.”

While Garza did score 22 points in the game, 20 of those were in the first three quarters. Crayton completely shut the Lady Lobos’ leading scorer down in the fourth.

As it has been throughout this season for Lehman, once Garza fades, the team is soon to follow. The Lady Lobos took a 36-32 lead into the fourth quarter but couldn’t buy anything on offense in the final period.

“We had a four-point lead and then we just got tired,” Lehman head coach Danny Preuss said. “The whole team played great for three quarters, but their press wore us down.”

San Marcos, like it has done all season, opened it up when the opposition slowed to a halt.

The Lady Rattlers went on a 11-4 run to open the fourth quarter and a huge 3-pointer by Crayton, her second basket of the night, put San Marcos ahead 41-38. Lehman would never get closer the rest of the way.

“That’s when it turned everything around,” Crayton said. “Everybody got excited. I wish I would have made it a bit sooner in the game, because then we would have been up for a majority of the game, but I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.”

While Crayton got it done on defense and hit the biggest shot of the game, Miles kept San Marcos in it early with her offense.

The Lady Rattlers pounded the ball into the post for Miles and she turned the passes into baskets. Miles scored 15 points in the game, nine of which were in the second half.

“We knew we could take it out of them not only by running the floor, but by getting it inside to Domono,” Norris said. “It was a constant effort on our part to wear them down.”

With the win, San Marcos improved to 4-7 in District 17-4A, while the Lady Lobos fall to 3-8.

The Lady Rattlers wrap up the season Tuesday night against Manor and Norris said while the team needs a lot of help to make the playoffs, Friday night’s win was a step in the right direction.

“I felt like it was a total team effort, everybody knew their roles and that’s what I’ve been trying to get them to do all year,” Norris said. “I feel good about finishing up the year because if we can finish up Tuesday on this kind of note, it can give us something to look forward to next year.”

In sub-varsity action, the San Marcos junior varsity posted a 56-21 win, while the freshmen lost 47-36.



Varsity Girl’s Basketball

Lehman    8    14    14    5    —41

SMHS    10    9    13    22    —54

Lehman: BriAnna Garza 22, Catherine Gonzalez 6, Amara Smith 4, Liz Valderaz 3, Adriana Gonzales 2, Ariel Gonzalez 2, Keke Holmes 1, Bekah Lucio 1

San Marcos: Domonique Miles 15, Ali Gonzales 9, Dani Doria 8, Ashley Crayton 7, Brittany Garrity 6, Michelle Moody 4, Madelyn Swinney 2, Sabrina Garcia 1, Miranda Rainey 1