MISSION — Anna Marshall began her junior season with a highlight play. Employing misdirection and a smooth touch, Marshall juked her way to an open layup and the first bucket of the season for the Sharyland High Lady Rattlers.
“My dad filmed all my games last year,” Marshall said. “I would always go back and watch, and I saw a lot of highlights and lowlights. I only had one play like that all of last year, and that’s something I wanted to get better at.”
Marshall, a 6-foot-1 post, worked her way into the starting rotation a season ago and enters this year as the Lady Rattlers’ offensive focal point. Marshall touched the ball early and often during Sharyland’s 53-48 win over McAllen Memorial at Sharyland High before ending the night with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Making Marshall’s production more impressive was her opponent, McAllen Memorial post Ebony Johnson, one of the few Valley players with the size to guard Marshall one-on-one.
“I’m glad she went up against someone who can guard her,” Sharyland coach Dale Whitaker said. “That’s a good test for her this early in the season.”
Johnson spent much of the first half in foul trouble but still finished with 12 points and nine boards. The Lady Mustangs (0-1) were without post Draik Banks, who is still in volleyball season. While Memorial missed its second big, the Lady Rattlers (1-0) brought two.
With just one day of practice under her belt upon her return from Sharyland volleyball, senior Maddie Garza appeared to not miss a beat, scoring 13 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing out four assists.
“I was really excited to play,” Garza said. “…It still hasn’t hit me yet that volleyball season is over, but I was excited to go out there and play today.”
Though Marshall led the team in scoring, Garza’s role was just as intricate to the Lady Rattlers win. While Marshall spent the night owning the paint, Garza camped out on the wing where she created space for her fellow big or found guards cutting to the basket.
One such guard was senior Sonia Trevino, who finished with 11 points, including seven in the third quarter.
Sharyland led for much of the night and outscored Memorial in the first three quarters before giving up 20 points in the game’s final period to make the scoreboard appear closer than the game actually was.
“I want to see us finish better,” Whitaker said. “We committed a lot of fouls there at the end and turned the ball over a couple of times.”
Memorial was led in scoring by Victoria Izaguirre with 24 points, including a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line.
“We started out a little rusty, but it’s early in the season,” Izaguirre said. “Things got better as we went along… We just need to get better at communication. We need to talk more. We’re moving the ball well, we just need to look inside a little bit more.”
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