Arabians win 2nd in Marion Tourney

The Arabians had a big week last week as they won four of their five games. Starting off against Bandera, and facing Bandera, Boerne, Yoakum, Smithville, and Marion in the Marion Varsity Tournament, the Arabians came home with 2nd place!
The girls got off to a fast start vs Bandera and never looked back. We did a really good job of moving the ball against Bandera’s zone defenses and were able to knock down some open shots to get out to an early lead. We did a great job of applying pressure to Bandera’s guards and not allowing them to get comfortable in their offense. We also did a great job of getting deflections and steals and that allowed us to score some easy baskets on the offensive end. In all, a very solid win for the team at 53-24.
Points: Gabby Rodriguez 2, Lacey Shook 3, Macey Hein 11, Brianna Bowyer 1, Yessika Garza 2, Megan Runyan 13, Maddie Mata 5, Clarissa Zamora 6, Ally Taylor 7, Janaee Wofford 3. Rebounds: Rodriguez 2, Shook 5, Hein 10, Runyan 4, Mata 3, Zamora 3, Taylor 5, Wofford 2. Steals: Rodriguez 1, Shook 1, Hein 3, Bowyer 1, Runyan 2, Mata 4, Taylor 1, Wofford 1. Blocks: Zamora 2, Wofford 1. Q1 16-9, Q2 33-11, Q3 40-16, Q4 53-25. FTPP 45%
We opened the Marion tournament with a tough loss to a very quick and physical Boerne team. Boerne’s aggressiveness really bothered us early in the game. We didn’t take care of the ball and that led to easy transition baskets for Boerne. When we did get good shots, we rushed those shots and just had some back luck in the shooting percentage department. We were down big after the first quarter but I thought we made some adjustments to our aggressiveness and played a much better 2nd and 3rd quarters. Boerne did a good job of getting to the line in the 4th quarter to prevent us from making a comeback. I think we really learned a lot in the 33-60 loss to Boerne. I feel like the girls will really benefit from this game by making adjustments while going forward into the season.
Points: Hein 4, Garza 2, Runyan 7, Kadence Yeats 3, Mata 7, Zamora 5, Taylor 3, Wofford 2. Rebounds: Hein 7, Garza 2, Runyan 10, Yeats 3, Mata 4, Zamora 5, Taylor 1, Wofford 2. Assists: Hein 1, Mata 2, Taylor 1. Blocks: Hein 1, Mata 1. Q1 9-25, Q2 17-35, Q3 26-44, Q4 33-60. FTP 46%
Game two of the Marion tournament was against Yoakum. We got out to an early lead with a great first quarter. We came out and played aggressively on both ends of the ball. We played well defensively and that sparked us. We got out in transition and scored some easy baskets that way. Offensively we played well and we really shared the ball well totaling 21 assist in the game. Yoakum came out in the second half with a much different intensity and we struggled to match that at times. Regardless, we held on to the lead we had built at halftime and won the game 67-45.
Points: Shook 8, Hein 15, Bowyer 1, Kendal Marek 2, Garza 3, Runyan 13, Mata 6, Zamora 6, Taylor 13. Rebounds: Rodriguez 1, Shook 2, Hein 5, Bowyer 1, Marek 2, Garza 4, Runyan 5, Mata 4, Zamora 4, Taylor 1. Steals: Rodriguez 1, Shook 2, Hein 4, Bowyer 1, Garza 1, Runyan 5, Mata 4, Zamora 1, Taylor 1. Blocks: Hein 3, Bowyer 1, Mata 2. Q1 23-3, Q1 40-14, Q3 53-32, Q4 67-45. FTO 44%
We went back to Marion on Saturday for a morning game against Smithville. We did some really good things offensively early; we just couldn’t make some of the good shots that we got. We also got into some foul trouble so that hurts us as well. Defensively we played well on the ball, but we struggled to keep the aggressive Smithville team off the boards. We made a few adjustments in the second half and came out with a great 3rd quarter to open up the game. Smithville made a late run at us in the 4th quarter but we did a good job of slowing down late and running the clock to put the game away 45-37.
Points: Shook 3, Hein 14, Garza 5, Runyan 4, Mata 11, Zamora 2, Taylor 6. Rebounds: Rodriguez 1, Hein 6, Garza 3, Runyan 4, Mata 1, Zamora 7, Taylor 1. Assists: Hein 4, Mata 8. Steals” Hein 3, Yeats 1, Mata 2. Blocks: Hein 1. Q1 6-5, Q2 18-17, Q3 37-26, Q4 45-39. FTP 45%
We had a quick turn around for the Marion game. We did some really good things in our zone offense; we got some really good shots, but we had bad luck in getting them to go. Despite not shooting the ball well early, we did play really good defense. We forced a lot of turnovers and did a great job of rebounding the ball. We got some shots to fall in the second half and really pulled away for the 41-17 win.
Points: Rodriguez 2, Hein 10, Garza 3, Runyan 6, Mata 5, Zamora 5, Taylor 10. Rebounds: Rodriguez 1, Shook 2, Hein 4, Bowyer 2, Marek 1, Garza 2, Runyan 5, Yeats 1, Mara 5, Zamora 5, Taylor 5. Steals: Shook 2, Hein 4, Bowyer 2, Garza 3, Runyan 4, Mata 3, Zamora 1, Taylor 1. Blocks: Shook 1, Hein 1, Yeats 1, Runyan 1, Mata 1. Q1 7-6, Q2 16-10, Q3 25-15, Q4 41-17. FTP 65%
Overall the Marion tournament was a great tournament for our team. We were able to play some tough competition and came away with 2nd as a team. We had a lot of people contribute in different ways during the weekend. Maddie Mata and Macey Hein were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
With an overall record 12-2, the Arabians will host their annual tournament this weekend.
By Coach Jim Sessions