San Marcos defeats Schertz Clemens for final home win

SMHS BASKETBALL

In the final home game of the year, the San Marcos Lady Rattlers came away with a 63-58 win over the Schertz Clemens Buffaloes.

It was redemption for Head Coach Jermaine Ervin’s squad as San Marcos fell in their first matchup against Schertz Clemens in an eerily similar score 62-57.

“That was a huge win,” Ervin said. “It was good for our girls moving forward in finishing the season out right. We had a tough game against them (Schertz Clemens) on the road where we felt like we let that one get away and on Saturday we were able to finish the game for the win.”

With this game being moved from Tuesday to Saturday, the Lady Rattlers were not only able to win in their final home game but the victory also represented the first time San Marcos had a victory at the Snake Pit since January 3 in their win over Lytle.

“We needed to win at home badly,” Ervin said. “For us to get that win against Clemens at home and get the last win at the Snake Pit really helped the seniors who all played really good…It felt good to win in front of our home crowd, and it gives us something to build on moving forward.”

Despite giving up the lead in the first game against Buffaloes, which lead to the loss, San Marcos was able to learn from their mistakes and use them in the second game against Schertz Clemens.

“In our first game against Clemens, we went into halftime with the lead,” Ervin said. “We were holding them to under 21 points in the first half. In the third quarter, both of our primary ball handlers got into foul trouble, so they were both out of the game. During that timespan, Clemens’ press was giving us problems with both of our ball handlers out of the game. From there, they went on a 23-point run. They were able to get the lead, and we weren’t able to get some things to fall through at the end. At home, we were able to fight through a couple of things, and we had the lead primarily throughout the game.”

Not only did seniors Moore and Taylor help lead the Lady Rattlers to a win, but also the young core of ball handlers who elevated their play during tough situations.

“We gave up the lead early in the fourth quarter and where we had faltered in games before, we had players step up,” Ervin said. “Erza Tobias had fouled out but Ayleceia Pearson had stepped up her game. Azariah Fennell had fouled out but Melayna Perkins stepped up. Then our two seniors came through for us with Saylor Upshaw by rebounding a missed free throw and put it back in to give us the lead back. Amiya Moore then hit a plethora of jump shots to give us the lead early in the first half while also taking three charges that helped us defensively. If you think about the games we have played earlier, the things we struggled with were turnovers and free throws. Here we were able to minimize the turnovers and capitalized on free throws.”

San Marcos closes out the regular season against Converse Judson Tuesday Night.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc