Wylie girls basketball beats Lubbock High with 'full defensive effort' and steady offense

The Wylie girls basketball team got into the District 4-5A win column on Tuesday night, playing a complete game from start to finish, beating Lubbock High 50-38 at Bulldog Gym.

Kenyah and Indiah Maroney knocked down the first two shots to get things going for the Lady Bulldogs. It was a 10-2 run as Caroline Steadman and Kenyah Maroney knocked down 3-pointers.

It set the tone for Wylie (11-15 overall, 1-3 district) in what was a must-win situation.

"It's nice to get the win," Wylie coach Amy Powell said. "Kind of had our backs to the wall. We know that this week, if we want a shot at making the playoffs, this one and the next one are probably big games. … We told the girls that stepped on the floor, they had to have a sense of urgency if we want to have a chance of playing more games at the end of this."

The urgency was there at the start, but faltered a little at the end of the first quarter. After taking a 10-2 lead, the Lady Bulldogs didn't score over the final 3:44 as Lubbock High (18-9, 2-2) made it a 10-10 game early in the second.

But in stepped Camri Travis to restart the Wylie offense. Travis hit a 3-pointer to start a 10-0 run, and hit the last shot, to regain control of the game.

"Camri Travis coming in off the bench in the second quarter and giving us eight quick points, two 3s and a 2," Powell said. "Camri's streaky like that. We know she's capable of that when she gets on a streak, we've seen it in practice. She's had different points in time throughout the season, she's been able to give us really valuable minutes. I thought Camri really gave us a lift."

Steadman finished with a game-high 14 points and Kaylan Adams added nine. Travis finished with eight along with Kenyah Maroney while Mycala Reed scored six and Indiah Maroney had five.

While the offense got going, the defense continued to be a strength of the Lady Bulldogs. And they had some help, with a first look at LHS before the new year. Mecailin Marshall and Faith Ford combined for 34 points as the Lady Westerners won 55-39.

Wylie put an emphasis on stopping those two, Ford finished with 14 and Izzy Palmer had eight while Marshall was held to seven.

"We played them in the Caprock tournament, so we really had a good idea of what we needed to do better this time," Powell said. "Made some adjustments, especially defensively. … The first time we played them, the Marshall girl had 23 points, I think. We put Kenyah on her.

"Kenyah really had a fantastic game, on both ends. First half she had some really big buckets and defensively to hold that kid to seven. The post (Ford) hurt us the first time, so we were really keying on those two girls tonight. … Indiah and Kaylan (Adams) both did a great job on (Ford) in the paint."

The lead grew to 12 points in the second quarter and was nine, 26-17, at halftime. The Lady Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the game, 16 points, in the fourth quarter. It never dropped below seven points.

"We knew they were going to set a lot of ball screens, so we worked on hedging a lot this week," Powell said. "We really, I think, frustrated them a little bit and forced them to take some quick outside shots and we were able to secure rebounds and keep them off the boards. … I really thought it was, from beginning to end, a full defensive effort in the first half and second half."

Now, the Lady Bulldogs will have another must-win game on their hands Friday when they travel down the road. Cooper is 0-4 in district following Tuesday's loss to Lubbock Coronado, but throw the records out when it comes to this matchup.

"(Cooper coach Arsenio) Geter and I joke about when you put Abilene Cooper and Wylie in the same gym," Powell said. "It's a rivalry. We both want to be the best in town and best in our district. Going over there to play is always a great environment, always loud and rowdy, really the type of environment you want to play basketball in. We won't have a hard time getting our kids fired up for Cooper."

Jordan Hofeditz covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jhofeditz. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

DISTRICT 4-5A GIRLS

Wylie 50, Lubbock High 38

Lubbock 8 9 11 10—38

Wylie 10 16 11 13—50

LUBBOCK HIGH (18-9, 2-2) — Izzy Palmer 3 0-0 8, Mecailin Marshall 3 0-0 7, Ciara Hernandez 1 1-2 4, Vanessa Garza 0 0-0 0, Faith Ford 6 1-4 14, Eowyn Shires 2 1-2 5, Trinity Gentry 0 0-2 0. Totals 15 3-10 38.

WYLIE (11-15, 1-3) — Camri Travis 3 0-0 8, Caroline Steadman 4 4-4 14, Mycala Reed 1 4-4 6, Alexis LaCroix 0 0-0 0, Kaylan Adams 4 1-2 9, Halli Russell 0 0-0 0, Kenyah Maroney 2 3-4 8, Indiah Maroney 2 1-3 5, Aliyah Jowers 0 0-0 0, Nylah Alvarado 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 13-17 50.

3-Point Goals — Lubbock High 4 (Palmer 2, Hernandez 1, Ford 1); Wylie 5 (Travis 2, Steadman 2, K. Maroney 1). Total Fouls — Lubbock High 14, Wylie 11. Fouled Out — None. Technical Fouls — None.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Wylie girls basketball beats Lubbock High with 'full defensive effort'