The Lady Mavs took on the Bowie High School Bulldogs on Tuesday, Nov 5. They entered their first home game of the season undefeated after two scrimmage games and their first game on Friday, Nov. 1, against Ann Richards All Women’s School, winning 55-18, but broke their winning streak against Bowie, losing 28-61.
“The intensity was definitely up,” junior shooting guard Tierra Green said. “Especially with it being our first home game, a lot of people came to watch”
Starting the first quarter the Mavericks won the tip-off but were unsuccessful offensively. Junior shooting guard Alahna Lerma scored the first point for the Mavs with an and-one layup, making the Mavs down one point 2-3. With numerous fouls on both ends and a few missed layups, the Mavs were only able to score three points, ending the first quarter down 3-14.
“After we finally scored in the first quarter it brought a lot of energy to the whole team,” Lerma said. “Especially playing at home for the first time this year, it makes playing a lot more exciting”
Coming out in the second quarter the Mavericks picked it up defensively, with efforts from Green who had five rebounds in the first half. The Mavericks were able to have success offensively, but could not catch up to the Bulldogs, ending the second quarter 15-30.
“I feel like our defensive game has been very strong,” Green said. “At first we were in a man defense, which got us a lot of steals, and then went into a 1-2-2 [formation] and that helped us a lot with covering outside shooting.”
Coming into the second half on a better foot the Mavs were able to keep up with Bowie. The Mavericks were more defensively present, only allowing them to score eight points in the third quarter, ending only down 14 points with a score of 24-38.
“The third quarter was the best quarter that we had,” Lerma said. “We were able to catch up, and we were only down by ten points, we all showed out as a team and we all contributed.”
The Mavs stayed determined into the fourth and final quarter with it only being a 14 point game. Despite their efforts the Mavs fell short defensively, as well as being unable to stay successful on offense scoring only four points in the final quarter, with the game ending in a loss for the Mavericks.
“We all had high energy throughout the whole game,” Lerma said. “We know we need to continue fighting to win, and having encouraging teammates makes it a lot easier. If one person messes up then we all say that it was okay and encourage each other to keep going.”
The Mavericks will play in the I-45 tournament on Nov. 14-16, and again against Anderson High School at home on Tuesday, November 11.
