By Spencer Spilman.
The Hays High Lady Rebel basketball team faced a late charge from the visiting Incarnate Word Shamrocks Tuesday night, but the Lady Rebels’ size was too much for the Shamrocks in a 45-36 win.
The Lady Rebels fell behind in the opening minutes of the game but battled back quickly, and once they had the lead they didn’t look back.
They needed the early defensive presence of Tara Ramsey and her three first-quarter steals to slow down the Shamrocks. After taking an early 4-1 lead, the Shamrocks failed to score another point and Hays finished the quarter on a 9-0 run behind the inside dominance from Jill Borreson, who had four of the teams’ five rebounds in the quarter.
Incarnate Word came out firing in the second with 12 points in the quarter. Although they were outsized, Incarnate Word found a way to match Hays in rebounds. The Lady Rebels answered with a balanced attack of five different players. Madison Zapata stepped up off the bench and continued the dominance on the glass, finishing the game with six points and four rebounds; three rebounds in the second quarter. Hays maintained the lead as they went into halftime up 21-16.
Whatever head coach Danny Preuss said to his team at half seemed to work. The Lady Rebels got the ball moving around the court with five assists in the quarter; two of the five coming from guard Alexis Delgado. Hays continued to score-by-committee and five players combined for 12 points in the quarter. Borreson led the Lady Rebels with three points and four more rebounds. She used her height and also made two blocks under the basket. The Shamrocks had no answer for the size of the Lady Rebels and Hays took a 33-25 lead going into the final quarter.
Any comeback scheme from Incarnate Word was snuffed out by the Lady Rebels play on the court. Hays came out with the speed and jump shooting from Delgado, and the rebounding and physical presence from Borreson. To counter, the Shamrocks cranked up their defense to cause four steals as they narrowed the deficit. In the end it was too much from Borreson, who finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Delgado added 10 points as the two helped the Lady Rebels get to 11-4 on the year.
The Lady Rebels will play host to the Rebel classic this weekend at Bales Gym.
