San Marcos took down New Braunfels in the season opener on Friday night as the Lady Rattlers cruised to a 59-41 victory.
It was the first game under head coach Cooper Haralson, who didn’t sense any first-game nerves from his team
“I have full confidence in these girls and what they can accomplish when they just stick together and they do exactly what they did tonight,” said Haralson. “So when I saw their faces and how calm they were I was like, ‘why am I even nervous?’ … They calmed me down without even knowing it.”
The Lady Rattlers jumped to a 7-4 lead early in the game after Azariah Fennell scored seven unanswered points for San Marcos. The Lady Rattlers did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the night, as their suffocating defense kept the Unicorns at bay.
“I really feel like that type of defense, pressuring the basketball, moving our feet, not using our hands, that’s our identity,” Haralson said. “Our identity is to pressure the other team, to force those turnovers.”
After taking a 16-11 lead to the second quarter, San Marcos extended the lead to 22-11 as the run was capped off by another score from Azariah Fennell.
New Braunfels made it an eight point game, closing the score to 27-19, but the Lady Rattlers went on a 6-0 run to finish the half with Ayleceia Pierson scoring the last points of the second quarter that gave San Marcos a 33-19 lead at halftime.
The Unicorns came out hot in the third quarter, bringing themselves back to within eight at 39-31, but an avalanche of forced turnovers and points from the Lady Rattlers propelled them to a 13-1 run to finish the quarter up 52-32.
“Basketball is a game of runs, we all know that,” said Haralson. “It’s just who can stop the others and create theirs, and how long they can continue it. I think our defense set us up for that, and great defense like that, pressuring the ball, playing help side, getting those turnovers leads to easy offense.”
In the fourth quarter, San Marcos cruised on the back of that huge lead to win 59-41.
The Lady Rattlers start a long road trip next week with an away game against Smithson Valley on Tuesday.
