SMHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Lady Rattlers played their first home game in over a month and defeated the Austin Bowie Bulldogs 58-54 in a thrilling game in the Snake Pit.
Playing at home, senior point guard Ezra Tobias was happy to be back in front of the home crowd and secure the home victory.
“It’s just good for people to come out to watch us prove that we can win here,” Tobias said. “Last year kind of struggled, but this year, we’re just trying to put on a show for everybody.”
Junior shooting forward Azariah Fennell, who finished the game with 13 points, agreed with her teammate, as the Lady Rattlers improved their record to 2-0 at the Snake Pit.
“Definitely big [winning] our second game at home,” Fennell said. “Being 2-0 at home, [we are] showing that we’re competitive, we’re here and we’re here to win.
Head Coach Cooper Haralson was proud of the team after coming out aggressive and establishing a lead early in the game.
“We came out really well,” Haralson said. “We communicated defensively, pushed the ball and forced some turnovers in transition and got some easy scores.”
Bowie jumped out to a 7-3 lead before San Marcos responded with an 8-2 run to retake the lead at 11-9.
The Bulldogs tied the game at 11-11 but junior shooting guard Rianna Garcia hit a buzzer beating three pointer to give the Lady Rattlers a 14-11 lead going into the second quarter.
The Lady Rattlers dominated the majority of the second quarter with their patent tough defense and transition offense to lead 30-18.
Bowie however refused to give in, going on a 8-0 run at the end of the quarter to cut San Marcos lead down to 30-26.
It was a running theme for the Lady Rattlers consistently having to fight off multiple attempts by Bowie to retake the lead.
“We grabbed the lead pretty early and we were able to stick with it, but we got the lead up to double digits a couple times,” Haralson said. “[Bowie] is a great team. They fought back again and again. I’ve always said it’s a game of runs. and they’re tough to slow down.” The second half was an intense battle between the Lady Rattlers and the Bulldogs with the game reaching single possession multiple times.
During the fourth quarter, Bowie took back the lead 46-45 late in the period. However the Lady Rattlers retook the lead after junior forward Melayna Perkins hit two critical free throws to put San Marcos up 47-46.
Bowie again took back the lead at 48-47 only for Perkins to hit the three-point and push the Lady Rattler lead to 5048. Perkins finished the game with a team high 18 points.
Following the threepoint play, Bowie was unable to recapture the lead as San Marcos hit free throws late in the game to seal the win 58-54.
“At the end of the day, I’m extremely proud of our girls and how they handle adversity,” Haralson said. “The thing we are most proud of our girls for is the free throw line, which has kind of been tough to us. We’ve had a tough time finishing games there, and we honestly lost a couple games just because of missed free throws. How we were able to step up to line shoot with confidence and knock those down, [which] really sealed the deal.”
San Marcos returns to play Tuesday night against the San Antonio Davenport Wolves.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
