Lady Rattlers bounce back with blowout win against Clemens, face-off with Steele

The Lady Rattlers got back on track Friday night.

San Marcos secured a dominant 81-49 victory over Schertz Clemens where the Lady Rattlers won the final three quarters 57-30 after a competitive first period. Senior guard Ezra Tobias led the team’s defensive charge, pickpocketing her opponents and contesting shots at the rim. Sophomore forward Melayna Perkins scored at all three levels for the Purple and White offensively, with crucial and-one buckets to bring energy to her squad.

“I think our shots going in were the difference between this game and last,” Tobias said. “Against East Central, we missed a lot of bunnies and stuff like that. Our shots were just not falling that game, but we got back in the lab. we worked and now we’re here.'

The Lady Rattlers and Buffs opened the game neck and neck at 8-8, but San Marcos began to take control in the second half of the first quarter. San Marcos had a “see ball, get ball” approach defensively, which led to a multitude of steals and fast break buckets. The Lady Rattlers ended the quarter on a 10-1 run, giving them a 24-19 lead.

“This game I definitely feel like we started off so much better than the last game,” Perkins added. 'Last game we started off a little slow, (we) didn’t adjust to them as quickly as we did today. So today, that definitely clicked and it made us play so much better as a team. And so we knew everybody (from scouting) before they even stepped on the court. So that helped so much today.'

San Marcos kept the pressure on to start the second, and never took their foot off the gas. Their relentless ball pressure led to a 19-8 second quarter, where the Lady Rattlers got steals at will and capitalized in transition. The intensity throughout the period led to a 43-28 halftime lead.

“I think our defensive intensity really showed up tonight. I think great defense leads to easy offense in transition,” Assistant Coach Cooper Haralson said. “I think we were able to get a lot of pressure on them and force a lot of turnovers. Scoring in transition is what we do best, so I think all of the girls coming together and having the same mindset of keeping pressure on the ball and forcing them to fumble around with the ball led to us taking advantage on the (offensive) end (in transition).”

The Lady Buffs did open the third quarter on a 6-4 run, but San Marcos quickly responded with an 8-4 run of their own to gain the momentum back with three minutes left in the quarter. The Purple and White continued that run to win the period 2114, once again continually getting steals that led to fast break buckets. That built the Lady Rattlers lead to 64-42 heading into the final eight minutes.

San Marcos took care of business and closed out the game in the fourth, winning the quarter 17-7. Their defensive intensity and offensive execution on the break and in the half court helped the Lady Rattlers secure an 81-49 win — an important bounce back after their loss to East Central on Jan. 9.

San Marcos (18-5, 2-1) returns to the Snake Pit on Jan. 16 to face off with Cibolo Steele in what;s sure to be an intense district matchup.

“I think moving forward, there’s no easy ones. So every game we’re preparing, Coach Haralson does a great job of breaking down film. He does a great job of creating our notes for our film study,” Head Coach Jermaine Ervin said. “The girls are starting to take film a little bit more seriously — I got a lot of young girls out here — to kind of have an idea of what these teams are bringing strategy-wise and then also the talent that these teams are bringing in, in (regards to) trying to get our matchups. So I think just knowing that we got to be 1-0 each game (and) not looking ahead down the road — (thinking) if we lose this one or if we win that one, or we've got to get this one. We’re just looking at the next opponent and we’re just trying to be one percent better every day.”

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