Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Article Image Alt Text

Photo by Gerald Castillo

Lady Rattlers top San Antonio Brackenridge to stay unbeaten

San Marcos Girls Basketball
Wednesday, November 14, 2018

The Lady Eagles ran a full-court press for the whole game. The Lady Rattlers didn’t need to.

San Marcos looted San Antonio Brackenridge on Tuesday, pilfering 20 steals in the 42-33 victory inside the Snake Pit.

“We’re keeping our hands up, we’re staying on our toes,” sophomore forward Faith Phillips said. “We’re just — in our heads, ‘We’re good, we’re good.’”

The Lady Rattlers came out ready for the press. They built an early 11-3 lead in the first quarter and extended it to 24-11 by halftime. Though the team had a few errant passes, the Lady Rattlers gave up one steal through the second quarter.

“We worked on (press breaks) a lot, in practice a lot,” senior guard Andrea Flores said. “So that’s helped a lot. (We work on that) pretty often, almost every practice. It’s always good to have, you know?”

But as the game wore on, the pressure began to mount. San Marcos rushed its tempo, leading to more turnovers.

During the third quarter, Flores ripped the ball away from her opponent and raced to the rim for an easy transition bucket. Her teammates tried to match her pace. Phillips made an identical play on the next possession, but missed her layup. The Lady Rattlers then snatched another two steals, but turned the ball over both times.

“I just thought the second half was not as efficient,” head coach Veronda Kendall said. "I did not like our decision making. We tried to play fast when we shouldn’t have been. And so, we had a lot of situations where we hurt ourselves. It wasn’t anything that they did. It was our passes and our decision making and trying to play fast when we have to play smarter.”

San Marcos managed to cool off in the fourth quarter and stayed in front the whole way, winning 42-33. Phillips led the team with 13 points and two steals while Flores chipped in another four points and four steals — tied for the game-high.

The win moves the Lady Rattlers up to 4-0 on the season and the Lady Eagles down to 5-2. Flores credited the team’s chemistry for San Marcos’ hot start.

“Things have been pretty tough in the past few years,” Flores said. “But I think right now, like this year, we’ve started to overcome all of that and getting rid of all that negative energy. So we’re just becoming a well-bonded team.”

The Lady Rattlers will host the Champions Classic inside the Snake Pit this weekend. They’ll face San Antonio Jefferson at 9:30 a.m. and Richland at 7 p.m. in the first round of pool play on Thursday.

“We’ve got all of the state of Texas coming in here, it’ll be in all three of our gyms,” Kendall said. “And we’ll see some really good girls’ high school varsity basketball.”

The team is excited to test themselves.

“I’m just ready to get these games in," Phillips said. "Start racking up those dubs and getting exposed to some different teams, some different-styled teams. I’m just ready to face some better competition.”

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666