Lady Mustangs out-matched in playoff loss

FLATONIA — Schulenburg was too much to handle for the fourth-place Lady Mustangs Tuesday night as Nixon-Smiley lost their bi-district matchup against the Lady Shorthorns 58-30.

“[Their size] gave them their advantage, especially whenever when they were doing their full-court trap,” Nixon-Smiley’s head coach Doug Boatright said after the game. “Trying to see over those long-extended arms was difficult. Down low, gosh, it seemed like they had two, three, four opportunities every shot they took. They got on the boards big time. It [also] affected our offense because of their length.”

Schulenburg shot out to a 7-0 advantage quickly, ending the quarter up 17-7. The Lady Horns used their length to their advantage, frustrating Nixon-Smiley on both ends of the court.

The Lady Mustangs were limited to just three points in the second quarter.

Despite Schulenburg’s lead increasing throughout the game, Boatright touted his team’s will to continue the game, even going on a small run early in the fourth against Schulenburg’s starters.

“That right there is super important because four of my starters are coming back next year,” Boatright said. To see that fight, to see them not give up, that’s crucial. In years past, the Lady Mustang would have just laid down and taken a big defeat.”

Last season, Nixon-Smiley lost a combined 118-45 in their two games against Schulenburg.

“Quitting is not an option, we’re not going to lay down and take a butt whooping,” Boatright. “We’re going to stand up and were going to fight until the fourth quarter buzzer goes off.”

Even with the early-playoff exit, Boatright considers this season a step in the right direction. Last year, the Lady Mustangs lost all of their district games. This season, the team went 3-7, tying with Yoakum for fourth place. Nixon-Smiley then beat the Lady Bulldogs to qualify for the playoffs.

“For these ladies to completely flip it around to where they went 0-14 last year in district to competing this year in district, getting in the playoffs, that’s huge,” Boatright said. Like I told them right now, there’s some tears in the locker room. We have a couple of seniors that aren’t’ going to be with us next year, so they’re super emotional. But like I told them, we have nothing to hang our heads over. They’ve come out and they’ve represented Lady Mustang basketball with the upmost pride and dignity that I can ask of them.”

Katie Tschoepe led the team in scoring with 12 points followed by senior Faith Pullin with 11 points. Lilliana Jenks added three while Abby Fox and Kiara Andrada both had two points each.

Nixon-Smiley will lose the senior leadership of Pullin, Caitlin Sandoval and Yesenia Limon. Losing Pullin will be big, but the Lady Mustangs have a chance at improving with their core starters coming back next season.

“They only get a short break,” Boatright said of his returners. “We got summer ball and all the good stuff coming up that they’ll be involved in. But my one thing that I told them was, ‘use this as fuel to come back next year.’”

“We’re going to get back to the playoffs,” Boatright added. “These girls are only in the beginning of getting better. From day one when we started to Feb. 12, the leaps and bounds that they’ve made is tremendous. We still have more leaps and bounds to go. Use this as fuel to motivate us to get back here for next year.”