Turnovers overwhelm Lady Mustangs

MARION — The Marion Bulldogs (6-0) were too much for Nixon-Smiley (3-3) as Marion took down the Lady Mustangs 42-19 on Tuesday. Turnovers and fouls were a big factor the Lady Mustangs as the team was unable to overcome those issues against state-ranked Marion.

“If I remember right, we had 33 turnovers,” Nixon-Smiley head coach Scott Jones noted. “You play anybody that’s going to be tough to come back from.”

Marion struck first with a quick basket by Madelyn Abrameit to go up 2-0. The Bulldogs would keep their lead for the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, Nixon-Smiley’s first basket came with 4:48 remaining in the first quarter, a Maggie Mendez basket assisted by Lexi Trammell. Mendez would finish the night with a team-leading six points. The Lady Mustangs ended the first quarter down 12-6.

Marion continue to add to their lead with an 11-6 second quarter, going up 23-12 to end the first half.

Fouls started to become a factor for the Lady Mustangs, and with eight athletes dressed, Jones knows that it’s going to be an issue that’ll have to be cleaned up for the rest of the season.

“As you can see we’re only playing with eight girls so anytime we get into any sort of foul trouble is going to hurt us too,” Jones said. “Turnovers and cleaning up the fouls are what we need to focus on going into the second round [of district].”

Marion used their defense as well as their patience on offense to limit Nixon-Smiley to fewer possessions as the Bulldogs had a 7-4 advantage in the third and a 12-3 run in the fourth to win by 23 points.

Other scorers for the Lady Mustangs include Celeste Arriaga with five points, Trammell with four points, Elizabeth Vasquez with three points and Chaelee Mejia with one point.

Nixon-Smiley now falls to a three-way tie at third with Yoakum and Schulenburg, both teams who have already beaten the Lady Mustangs earlier in the district season. Nixon-Smiley will host Hallettsville (5-1) tonight, a team that sits in second place in District 27-3A. Tipoff is scheduled at 6:15 p.m.

District 27-3A                         

            W        L          %

Marion 6          0          1.000

Hallettsville     5          1          0.833

Yoakum           3          3          0.500

Schulenburg    3          3          0.500

Nixon-Smiley  3          3          0.500

Luling  2          4          0.333

Stockdale        1          4          0.200

UC Randolph   0          5          0.000

Editor’s note: Stockdale vs. UC Randolph game not reported