Lady Rattlers rebound for two wins on second day of Champions Classic

San Marcos responds well.

After concluding a 7:30 a.m. film session, the Lady Rattlers went searching for the answers to Thursday’s losses to San Antonio Edison and Fredericksburg. They found them in broad daylight amid the first game of the day with a 60-26 win over San Antonio MacArthur. 

The hosts came out firing from deep as sophomore guard Vivian Hernandez sank two 3s early, spacing the floor and allowing her teammates to take advantage of mismatches in the post. Faith Phillips was the first to profit from the floor spacing due to knock-down shooting of her teammates. The junior forward drove baseline after facing up her defender and was able to get the smooth finish at the rim. Junior guard Kayla Presley stunned a defender with a step-back and assisted Phillips, who netted the outside jumper forcing the Brahmas to call a timeout.

With the energy in the crowd and flames surrounding the ball each time it left the players’ hands, the hosts were able to pick up the first win of the tournament.

“We knew yesterday we were not ourselves and we knew that we had to take everything we experienced yesterday and learn from it,” head coach Veronda Kendall said. “And so part of that learning was to get up here in the morning and watch film and look at some of the little things that you have to adjust and be disciplined about every time you take the floor. We looked at those and we saw there were things that we can fix.

“We have to be committed to defend. That’s part of our identity. We have to be committed to communicating on the defensive end of the floor, we have to be committed to rebounding. On the offensive side, we have to be committed to offensive execution. We can’t be careless, we can’t come down and take quick shots. We have to execute our sets and be more patient. So, those are some of the areas we looked at that we know we could fix.”

San Marcos (4-2) clashed with The Woodlands (1-3) in the second game of the day. Phillips ignited the offense in the first quarter with nine points, finishing through contact at the rim, resulting in multiple and-ones. Down 22-8, the visitors relied heavily on the silky jump shot of junior Hailey Anderson. Anderson hit three 3s in the second quarter, slicing into the Rattler lead. The Lady Rattlers only led 27-25 at halftime, but Presley collected four steals that led to multiple transition points, a scoreless fourth quarter from the visitors and a 70-35 Lady Rattlers win.

Presley’s knack for picking up on the opposing team’s weaknesses throughout the game aided her in setting the tone at the top of the Lady Rattlers half-court trap.

“I was seeing that none of them could really dribble left. So what I was doing was, I would force them left and then my teammates would come in the passing lanes as soon as they threw their passes,” Presley said.

The Lady Rattlers finished the day undefeated but the faults of Thursday’s games reminded the players that they will have to play consistently in order to reach their potential.

“I feel like it was a wake-up call,” senior wing Miranda Lamb said. “Now that we are able to know that there are better teams out there, I feel like we’ll be able to not only work harder in practice but be prepared for district when there are even better teams out there.”

Presley averaged 12 points per game while also picking up 3.5 steals, setting the tone defensively for her team. Phillips returned after resting the two previous games, averaging 14 points and seven rebounds.

Kendall articulated what it was like watching her team respond in a positive way to the losses.

“It speaks to how well we work together,” Kendall said. “It's a resilient group of young girls. They’re tough, battle-tested. It was a rough day (Thursday) and they made the decision that they were gonna do what it takes together as a team for us to back bounce back and get a win.”

San Marcos concluded the Champions Classic at noon Saturday in the consolation championship against South San Antonio. The game ended after press time.