The Dripping Springs Lady Tigers (13-11) took care of business Friday as they rolled to a 65-35 blowout victory over the Lockhart Lady Lions.
Playing a primary role in the win was an effective full-court press defense and execution on the offensive end.
“We came out and we really needed this win,” Lady Tigers senior point guard Kennedy Donovan said. “After the loss to Crockett we need as many wins as we can get in a row, just it totally boosts everyone’s confidence. Especially when we beat them by so many points, people off the bench get to play, it really boosts morale.”
“We can’t be satisfied with where we are. We’ve got to keep plugging away, keep coming to practice, be hungry. We still want to be district champions, so that goal is still in for us.”
–David Norris, Lady Tigers basketball coach
Dripping Springs jumped out to a hot start in the game as it deployed a full-court press that gave the Lady Lions fits in the first half. The Lady Tigers led 31-14 at halftime. Lockhart turned the ball over 23 times in the game, with more than half of those coming in the first two quarters. Dripping Springs forced 11 of its 16 steals in the game in the first half of play, with Lady Tigers sophomore guard Ally Beck snagging four steals.
“We’ve been struggling in generating some offense in the middle part of our season, so our press has been a big part of it and we’ve really been working on that to get that right and generate some points,” Dripping Springs head coach David Norris said. “You know just trying to get some easy baskets first and then let some outside shooting kind of come in. Sometimes we get complacent and just shoot outside shots and we needed to try to score some other ways.”
Donovan led the team with 13 points, five assists, and three steals for the game.
“Kennedy has been building a lot of momentum,” Norris said. “This is her first time playing point guard, so she has really grown into the position and the past few games she's been doing a great job of that.”
Assisting Donovan was junior forward Hannah Pena and sophomore guard Teagan Huslig, who both came off the bench. Both Pena and Huslig, who scored 10 points each, provided a spark for the Tigers.
“She (Huslig) is a good shooter, it’s just getting her in and getting some minutes and getting settled,” Norris said. “She showed some signs of that earlier where she can shoot the ball, and she has come in at key times and made some good outside shots, and that kind of got us going a little bit.”
Hitting perimeter shots, along with effective play in the paint, were keys to battling Lockhart’s zone defense, Norris said. Donovan, Beck and Huslig each hit multiple open three-pointers throughout the game, which was created by adequate offensive spacing and team passing.
“I thought we did a good job of moving the ball around once we settled and started to make the extra pass,” Norris said. “They kind of knew what we were going to do, so we built in some little things to counter that.”
Now 4-1 in district, Dripping Springs is building team confidence as the Lady Tigers head into the meat of the district schedule.
“We can’t be satisfied with where we are,” Norris said. “We’ve got to keep plugging away, keep coming to practice, be hungry. We still want to be district champions, so that goal is still in for us. They’ve just got to keep improving in every facet.”
