Lady Mustangs beat Marion, 55-46, to advance to tiebreaker finale

The Nixon-Smiley Lady Mustangs beat the Marion Lady Bulldogs for the third time this season Thursday, Feb. 10, setting up a rematch with Randolph on Friday for second place in district.

Because all three teams ended up tied with identical 6-4 district records, District 26-3A scheduled a tiebreaker tournament at Stockdale for Feb. 10-11. Randolph received a bye due to a coin flip, so Nixon-Smiley faced Marion on Thursday and brought home a 55-46 victory with a great pro-Mustang crowd in attendance.

Senior Greenlee Houseton led the way with 21 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while junior Mady Velasquez and sophomore Kendall Amaya each scored 12 points. Velasquez added five rebounds, three assists and four steals, while Amaya had nine rebounds and two steals.

Junior Madisyne Rice scored eight points, while junior Natalee Mendez had two points, seven rebounds and a team-high eight steals. Sophomore Ariel Villanueva didn’t score, but contributed four big rebounds.

The Lady Mustangs now face their nemesis, the Lady Ro-Hawks of Randolph, at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, at the Stockdale gym. If the Lady Mustangs win, Randolph will then play Marion at 8 p.m. to determine third place. If Randolph wins against Nixon-Smiley, they take second place, while the Lady Mustangs will claim third place with Marion coming in fourth.

If the Lady Mustangs finish second, they will face Comfort in bi-district play, but if they finish third, they will face Blanco.