Hays (5-6) won 58-33 its fifth game of the season in convincing fashion against the Seguin Matadors Tuesday night at Bales Gym. Lady Rebel senior point guard Gabby Bosquez led Hays on the offensive and defensive end of the court with 21 points and six steals in the game, while the team as a whole controlled the boards with 34 total rebounds.
“I think we had a lot of good individual players tonight,” Hays head coach Danny Preuss said. “I’d like to see more team. And that’s what I talked to the girls in the locker room. I said individually you shot the ball well. I think you did some good things individually. But I said there comes to a point where we are going to have to rely on each other a little bit more and make better decisions as a team, rather than just individually.”
Bosquez scored 17 of her 21 points in the second half of the game after a rough shooting performance in the first half. Although Bosquez struggled on offense in the first two quarters, she made up for it with her effort on the defensive end with six steals on the night.
“Gabby struggled a little bit in the first half with her shot selection,” said Preuss. “Trying to teach her she doesn’t have to do everything all the time, she’s got some help. But I never mind her shooting the ball, because she’s got such a great shot.”
Lady Rebel freshman forward Lilly Guevera came up huge in a multitude of ways with a double-double on the night, recording 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“Lilly Guevera, one of my freshman, number 32, had a good shooting night tonight,” Preuss said. “She made long shots, she made short shots, she made hard contested layups, thought she had real good (game).”
Guevera wasn’t the only player dominating the boards for the Lady Rebels. Sophomore forward Sydney Collins and freshman forward Trista Strasser were also big time enforcers in the paint. Collins pulled down eight rounds while adding two points, with Strasser corralling nine rebounds and scoring four points.
“Overall we needed that win,” said Preuss. “We’ve been, I wouldn’t say struggling a little bit. We played some pretty tough teams this year. I know four of our losses are against teams that are really good.”
Preuss hopes this win will build confidence and momentum within his team heading into the Hays CISD Classic Tournament this upcoming weekend, as well as district play.
“Getting five games in and getting better,” Preuss said is what he is looking forward to with the upcoming tournament play. “It’s tough, we’ve got some good tough teams in it (Hays CISD Classic). I didn’t do us any favors, I put us against Shoemaker first round, we played them in the championship game last year. We graduated nine seniors, I don’t think they did. So we’ll see. It’s going to be a challenge. We play at noon on Thursday against probably a veteran team and we are going to have to play as hard as we can. I think if we play hard we can get the win.”
Hays will kick off its tournament play at 12 p.m. versus Shoemaker at Bales Gym this Thursday.
