San Marcos — San Marcos girl’s head basketball coach David Norris kept telling his team they weren’t out of the playoff race — not in District 17-4A.

Every week, a team can both play to its potential and then fall horribly below it, leaving its coaches scratching their heads and opposing coaches celebrating.

So, with two games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Lady Rattlers are right in the thick of things. San Marcos currently is in a tie with Lehman for fifth place, a game behind Elgin.

It’s only right that the Lady Rattlers and Lady Lobos meet tonight at the Snake Pit.

San Marcos and Lehman met Jan. 12 on the Lady Lobos’ home court and the Lady Rattlers walked out with a hard-fought 49-45 win. Three San Marcos players poured in double-figure points with Ali Gonzales and Ashley Crayton leading the way with 14.

BriAnna Garza, who is averaging more than 17 points per game for Lehman, was held to 13 points in the loss. Garza found her stroke as of late, as she torched Lockhart for 18 points, five assists and four blocks on Jan. 26.

The Lady Lobos will need a similar effort out of Garza tonight and the Lady Rattlers have to defend her as well as they did in the teams’ first meeting.

San Marcos and Lehman have identical records (3-7) and with Elgin playing Hays tonight, the winner and Elgin will have the same record at day’s end — with one game left.



Rattlers can clinch playoff berth tonight

A lot will be on the line tonight when San Marcos meets Lehman at the Lobo Den.

If the Rattlers win, they’ll secure one of four playoff spots in District 17-4A. If the Lobos wind up victorious, they’ll put pressure on Elgin for the fourth and final playoff spot.

San Marcos and Lehman last met on the hardwood Jan. 12 with the Rattlers holding on for a 56-48 overtime win.

The Lobos whittled San Marcos’ once 20-point lead to a tie game late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to win the game on Jonathan Garrion’s jumped at the end of regulation, but the shot went wide. Many thought Garrion was fouled once the clock hit double zeroes, but the referees waved the shot off and sent the game into overtime.

Expect a similar game tonight with both teams playing for one of the final two playoff berths.



Lady Rebs look to finish strong, boys try to keep pace

Two things happen to the Hays girl’s basketball team last Tuesday night against Del Valle.

First, the Lady Rebels saw their dream of an undefeated district season end with a 35-26 loss to the Lady Cardinals. Secondly, Hays must beat Elgin tonight to have a shot at obtaining the top seed for District 17-4A in the playoffs.

On the other hand, the Rebels boys need to post a win tonight in order to stay in the hunt for their own playoff berth.

Hays is 3-6 overall with three games remaining and Elgin sits at 4-5. A win would put the Rebels into a tie with the Wildcats and create chaos in an already cloudy playoff picture.