Basketball season is drawing to a close with final positioning paramount and every game meaningful — especially when a team is sitting on the bubble of the last playoff spot.
The Wimberley High School Lady Texans know the feeling. There’s a five team race for the four available spots with Wimberley and Davenport in a dead heat scrambling for playoff hope.
Coach Caleb Hall’s team traveled to Bandera High School (12-18 overall, 0-7 district) to face the Bulldogs last Tuesday, Jan. 24 in a mustwin game. The game offered an opportunity for every team member to get on the court for playing time and experience.
“We were able to control the speed of the game at Bandera in a way that allowed everybody to play and contribute. We knew if we showed up and took care of business that it was going to be a great team win where everybody got to get on the floor,” said Hall. “We started that game strong and got stronger, shutting them down in the second half.”
The Lady Texan team closed the first quarter, leading 13-5 behind the scoring of Campbell Woodward — who scored twenty points on 7-of-15 shooting — and Laney Hennessee’s effort on the backboard. Hennessee finished with 15 rebounds for the game.
“Campbell was on fire. She scored just three points less than Bandera as a team and blocked a couple of shots. That speaks to a great defensive team effort. Holland Wyatt got in and got after it on defense,” shared Hall.
Wyatt amassed eight rebounds with two steals and two blocks in 19 minutes of play. Kylie Garner deflected three passes, and Cameron Thames got a hand on two. Baylee Gold also had two steals and a deflection while scoring seven.
Bandera kept the score close by scoring 10 to the Lady Texans’ 11 but were unable to keep up. Wimberley outscored the Bulldogs 25-8 in the second half toward a final score of 49-23.
“We could have shown up and not played well. It was good that everybody got minutes and contributed and good to see the team excited for each other getting out there on the floor,” concluded Hall.
The district-leading Boerne Greyhounds (25-1 overall, 7-0 district) brought their top three state ranking and size advantage into Texan Gym Friday night, Jan. 27. The Lady Texans played the first half completely unfazed by anything Boerne threw at them, closing the first quarter down 9-10.
“I love when we shock people. I love when we shock ourselves,” Hall said. “We very much went in with the intention of ‘we’re gonna give you all we got.’ As the game progressed, we realized that our 100% — when we’re firing on all cylinders — is a great thing and we’re a great team when we play like that. We’ve got to be able to maintain that high level of play.”
Hall’s team took that intentionality into the second quarter, maintaining focus and playing sound defense. They continued moving the ball around to find the open player and taking high percentage shots. Both teams scored ten points in the quarter, making the halftime score 19-20.
A difficulty for the Lady Texan team is maintaining focus and intensity during an opponent’s scoring run. Boerne senior guard Jamie Ruede sparked a run that troubled the home team for most of the third quarter. Boerne outscored the Lady Texans by 14 and led 24-39 headed into the fourth.
“She’s a phenomenal scorer and wasn’t a presence in the first half. In the second half, she decided that she was going to put some shots up,” Hall said. “I felt like we continued to play good defense. We had a hand on her but it shocked us because we’d been fighting, staying close and trading points. Suddenly they go on a six or eight point scoring run and we feel that change in momentum. It took us the rest of the quarter to get it back.”
To their credit, the Lady Texans gathered themselves, finishing strong and scoring at an equal pace with the Greyhounds. Woodward led Wimberley scorers with 12 while Hennessee had nine and Lily Dela Rosa and Garner put up six each. Dela Rosa added three steals and Hennessee pulled down ten rebounds. The Lady Texans overcame a difficult third quarter to play better together and keep the final score close, 50-35.
“They were tough on each other in the third quarter. They made the changes and came out and played a great fourth. I mean, I was really proud of the maturity that we played with in the fourth after struggling in the third,” commented Hall. “I told them after the game that I was proud of them for being hard on each other tonight. There was a lot of push from within the team to make changes and do better. I was really proud to see that because that’s hard. It can be tough to hold your teammates accountable.”
The Lady Texans were set for an out-of-conference game Tuesday, Jan. 31 in Burnet that was canceled due to weather. The team travels to Navarro High School on Friday, Feb. 3 and returns to the familiar confines of Texan Gym Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. to take on Canyon Lake in the season finale for Parent Night.
