The Wimberley High School Lady Texans have endured a rough start in district play facing three of the top eleven teams in 4A.
Fredericksburg and Boerne are ranked second and third respectively with Geronimo Navarro sitting quietly at eleventh. Last Tuesday, the Lady Panthers came to Texan Gym with a 22-5 record to play a Lady Texan team in need of a district win.
Navarro is a physical matchup and Coach Caleb Hall’s team took the game straight to the Panthers.
“We came out really strong and played extremely tough, which was something that I was happy to see us do. Because I knew it was going to be a physical game,” shared Hall.
The first quarter was close with Navarro taking an early lead 14-18. Coach Hall’s team pulled together defensively and gave as good as they got in the second quarter matching the Lady Panthers’ intensity and aggressiveness, scoring 14 while allowing only five points in the quarter to lead 28-23 at the half.
“We just took it right back to them,” said Hall. “It was the real physical game we counted on and we knew we had to be mentally tough. We played our butts off. We really did have a great game up until about midway through the third quarter.”
Though the Lady Texans led third period scoring, there was a decided momentum shift near the end of the quarter. Navarro collected more points off turnovers and tripled Wimberley’s second chance points, 15-5. The momentum carried into the fourth quarter as the Lady Panthers heated up, scoring 15 while the Lady Texans scored only 3 making the final score 50-44.
Hall explained the predicament of the fourth period.
“I think our youth showed a little bit,” he said. “We had a cushion and didn’t manage the clock as good as we needed. It showed a weakness in our game that we need to strengthen. Sometimes you don’t get to see those things in full effect until you play a really good team. Those games expose what you need to work on. That being said, they’re an outstanding team and ranked in the top 10 or 11 in the state. We carried a lead on them for the majority of the game and that was not a mistake. We’re a very good team. When we play well, we’re extremely hard to beat.”
Campbell Woodward scored 17 and was the only Lady Texan in double digits. Woodward picked up eight rebounds with Laney Hennessee rebounding seven. Lily Dela Rosa scored seven and had six rebounds, adding a team leading five assists and four steals.
The Canyon Lake contest was pushed over to Saturday, Jan. 14, due to scheduling conflicts, giving Coach Hall’s squad an opportunity to deal with the difficulties experienced with Navarro.
“It was clear exactly what we needed to do and put into our practices,” Hall said. “The girls came back hungry and ready to work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to fix the things that we saw we needed to fix. The girls were very focused because we had a phenomenal team effort on Tuesday come up short, but they responded the way you want when you take a tough loss. They put a great performance up against Canyon Lake.”
The Hawks play a tight zone in the paint, which limited what the Lady Texans could do in their scheme. The night started slow and a little flat as both teams struggled to score early. After a few missed fast break layups, Hall subbed in two of his perimeter shooters. Leading 15-5, Rhaygen Masur and Katie Schroeder entered the game with immediate impact, hitting three consecutive 3 point shots to swing the game into Wimberley’s favor.
“Just back to back to back. It was a 10 point swing and the game was over in the second quarter,” said Hall. “They grabbed momentum for us and we didn’t let go throughout the remainder of the game.”
Hall stated that Bailey Gold stepped in offensively to run the floor, getting behind the Hawk’s press and before the zone defense could set up. Gold had eight points to aid in scoring.
“Lily did an awesome job getting the offense going by making the first pass, distributing the ball and attacking the lane to draw some big fouls. She and KG (Kylie Garner) both drove to the rim which helped us immeasurably,” declared Hall. “One of their best players spent almost the whole first half on the bench and fouled out in the third quarter because those two drew some big fouls … and got her off the floor.”
Lady Texan statistical leaders included Masur with ten points, Woodward with nine rebounds and Dela Rosa adding three assists, four steals and eight deflections.
“I think it was one of our best efforts even if the scoreboard might not have shown how dominant a performance we had,” Hall said. “We won by 18, but the domination we showed tonight was all over the floor. Everybody coming in, getting good minutes and everybody playing well which is always great to see. We had an awesome bench that brought great energy tonight.”
The Lady Texan win — 46-18 — gives them a 20-9 record overall and 1-4 in district as they begin the second half of district play. Coach Hall’s team visited Fredericksburg on Tuesday, Jan. 17 and are back home Friday, Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m. to play Davenport.
