The Varsity Lady Mustangs’ last week was a long one; they faced Nueces-Canyon on Tuesday and then competed in the Harper Tournament over the weekend. Still coming together as a team, they faced many tough opponents in the tournament and learned what they still had to work on before district.
Tuesday night at home, the Lady Mustangs fell to Nueces-Canyon 32-55. They worked hard on the defensive side and stopped Nueces from running up the score on them.
Tina Fulton 11 points, 5 steals. Yahdi Lujan 7 points. Jelli Padilla 5 points, 8 rebounds. Trina Vera 4 points. Angelina Duenes 2 points, 2 steals. Naomi Garcia 2 points, 6 rebounds. McAiyla Ruiz 4 rebounds, 3 steals. Q1 10-17, Q2 18-36, Q3 25-46, Q4 32-55.
December 2nd-4th, the Lady Mustangs traveled nearly two hours to compete in the Harper Varsity Tournament. Opening against Comfort, this was the Lady Mustangs best game of the tournament. Falling 48-51, they played hard and outscored Comfort in three quarters. Leading 9-8 at the end of the first, Natalia continued to play hard and outscored them again in the second quarter 15-12. The third quarter was when they let Comfort run away with the game and outscored them 22-15. In the final quarter, the Lady Mustangs fought hard and nearly took the lead at the end but fell short at 48-21.
Padilla 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals. Bella Martinez 11 points, 1 steal. Garcia 6 points, 7 rebounds. Fulton 5 points, 5 steals, 6 rebounds. Ruiz 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal. Lujan 2 points, 2 rebounds, 4 steals. Heidi Vazquez 2 steals.
Facing the host team, Natalia struggled to get started in the first and opened the second quarter down 0-17. Natalia stepped it up in the second quarter but the game was too far gone. In the end they fell 21-69 to Harper. Harper is ranked #16 in the 2A class by TABC
Padilla had 7 points, Fulton 6, Ruiz 4, Vasquez 2, and Lujan 2 points.
Natalia had a stronger opening game against Balinger. Down only 5 at the end of the first, they could not get past Balinger’s defense and to the basket. They scored a handful of points each quarter but Balinger was in the double digits. Natalia fell 23-47 in the tough game.
Fulton had 5 points, Lujan 4, Martinez 3, Vazquez 3, Duenes 3, Garcia 2, and Ruiz 2 points.
In the final game of the tournament for Natalia, Rocksprings came out with a stronger determination but Natalia was able to drive to the basket more in this game. Losing by just 18 points, the Lady Mustangs proved that despite their prior losses, they still have fight in them and will not go down easy. Natalia fell 46-64 but left the tournament stronger.
Fulton led with 11 points, Lujan 9, Padilla 7, Vazquez 6, Kylee Spangler 5, Ruiz 4, Garcia 2, Duenes 2.
Now 2-13, the Lady Mustangs are more determined to get some wins. They faced Jourdanton last night in their district opener and will play in Poteet this Friday. They will be back at home Tuesday night to face Lytle.
By Dicy Chambers
Sports Writer