SMHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Lady Rattlers’ terrific season came to an end in the regional finals on Saturday afternoon, falling 44-39 to San Antonio Churchill.
It was the first time that San Marcos had appeared in the regional final since 1992, and a group of five seniors ended their careers in heartbreaking fashion.
“They gave it everything they had,” said San Marcos head coach Cooper Haralson. “They’re obviously a big reason why we were able to get to where we got to… They set a new tone for San Marcos Lady Rattler basketball, and I couldn’t love them more or be prouder of them for it.”
San Marcos played a great game defensively, which comes as no surprise given their suffocating style of basketball. They recovered from a slow start, but fell just short at the end.
It was a low-scoring first quarter, as each side clearly felt the nerves of the game and couldn’t get much offense going.
Rileigh Good got the Lady Rattlers going with their first five points to take a 5-1 lead, but Churchill ended the quarter on an 11-3 run to lead 12-8 after one.
The offensive struggles continued into the second quarter for San Marcos. Churchill’s size advantage loomed large as the Lady Rattlers struggled to get the ball to the rim for easy looks.
Quality defense and timely three-point shooting from the Chargers resulted in a 16-2 run to take a 30-14 lead.
Melayna Perkins led the Lady Rattlers with seven points in the quarter, three of which coming during the 5-0 run San Marcos closed the quarter on.
At halftime, the Lady Rattlers trailed 30-19.
The Lady Rattlers worked to cut into the lead in the third behind a fantastic defensive effort. It took nearly six minutes for Churchill to score their first points of the second half.
On the offensive side, the Lady Rattlers still had to work hard for their points, as their shots just weren’t falling.
Still, they began the quarter on a 6-0 run to make it 30-25. It was 3529 after three quarters.
Midway through the final quarter, Churchill was still ahead 39-33 with senior Ezra Tobias responsible for all four Lady Rattler points.
After Churchill gained possession, Cooper Haralson called a timeout to set up his defense.
San Marcos came out of the timeout with their ears pinned back, forcing three turnovers in a row and converting layups after each of them. Melayna Perkins was responsible for four of the six points. In the blink of an eye, San Marcos had tied the game.
Churchill was able to score on the other end to regain the lead 41-39. After San Marcos couldn’t come up with a bucket, the Chargers went to the free throw line for another point to make it 4239.
After a San Marcos traveling violation, Churchill looked to inbound the ball to close out a win. However, the Lady Rattlers had one more defensive stand left.
After a steal, San Marcos attempted a three-pointer that just missed short. Churchill came up with the rebound, but the Lady Rattlers forced a jump ball with the possession arrow in their favor. One last chance with 19 seconds to go.
Unfortunately for San Marcos, Ezra Tobias’ floater attempt was off the mark. Churchill rebounded the ball, and converted on two free throws to make it 44-39.
San Marcos could not come up with a score on the other end, and that was the final. The Lady Rattlers historic season came to an end in the regional final.
While the Lady Rattlers are losing key seniors next season, they will still have an extremely talented group of players returning, headlined by Rileigh Good, Azariah Fennell, and Melayna Perkins.
“Over the course of this run, and the season we had, different players had to step up at different times,” said Haralson. “It’s just going to be in a little bit larger scale next season for some of them.”
San Marcos finished the season with a 27-9 record.
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