BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Maddie Garza likes to repeat a basketball mantra picked up from her mother: Every rebound she grabs is one less opportunity for her opponents to score.
In that case, Garza has ended plenty of chances, and in record-setting fashion. During a game January 29 against Roma, the Sharyland High senior collected her 1,000th career rebound, the first Lady Rattler to do so during coach Dale Whitaker’s 21-year tenure.
Garza made history once more during Tuesday’s 59-32 bi-district win over Edcouch-Elsa, scoring 15 points to breach 1,000 career points, becoming the only player under Whitaker to achieve both milestones.
The numbers stand as a testament to Garza’s consistency and work ethic. Handmade signs replete with glitter and Garza’s name adorn the Sharyland High gym to celebrate her accomplishments, and she was awarded a custom
“For me, it wasn’t a focus,” Garza said. “I’m just doing what I do. And if it works out, it works out. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I just want to do my best for my team.”
Garza averages 10.8 points and 10.6 rebounds and is one of just four Valley girls players to average a double-double this season. Joining her is teammate Anna Marshall with 15.3 and 11.2, respectively.
Both players will be instrumental for Sharyland tonight when it plays Victoria West in an area-round game at Bishop. Whitaker describes West as an inconsistent team, but one that has athletic ability and a post player with soft hands around the rim.
Where Marshall is a traditional post — no Valley girls player is more effective with their back to the basket — Garza’s skillset is more versatile.
“She’s just a versatile person in general,” assistant coach Julie Clinton said. “She sings, plays guitar, does volleyball, is a hard worker, is taking tough classes in school and is always a leader for us. She doesn’t want to be defined by one thing. She wants to do a lot of things and do all of them well.”
At 5-foot-11, she’s not just on the court because she’s tall. But that was the perception of Garza during her freshman year on varsity. She says some players resented her given her youth. But Garza put in the hard work.
The summer before her freshman season, Garza undertook a hefty workout regimen.
“I had swimming from 5 to 8 in the morning, then I had basketball camps, and open gyms every day,” Garza said. “I had basketball and volleyball workouts every day and on the weekends there were tournaments because I wanted to get better.”
Compounding the team’s lackluster chemistry were the restrictions placed upon Garza. In middle school, she had free range to run the court and shoot whenever the possibility presented itself. For her first year as a varsity center, she wasn’t allowed beyond the block and was questioned by coaches for taking jumpers even when left open.
So raw was Garza, she didn’t even know what posting up meant, let alone how to do it.
“That was interesting,” Garza said. “It was a big change, but you gotta learn.”
The learning curve regressed her sophomore year, a time Garza said she began to grow into her own as a player and a teammate. During her first year as a full-time starter, the clashing personalities dissipated and Garza began to learn from the players around her — including then-senior Alejandra Ruiz, a post who frustrated her younger teammate during practices.
“She would always rip rebounds away from me during practice,” Garza said “She was always really quick and always got around me. It was really frustrating. She was just really strong and really consistent.”
Still, Garza was stuck in the paint playing a position that wasn’t a natural fit. Help arrived last season in the form of the 6-foot-1 Marshall, who allowed Garza to play power forward and demonstrate her versatility.
That pairing has fueled Sharyland’s success. With Marshall on the low block and Garza free to roam about the wing — passing it to open shooters, inside to her teammate or taking the shots herself — her senior season has been a return to her middle school days when she had license to do as she pleased.
“Those restrictions are gone now,” Garza said. “I can dribble a lot more now and make more decisions. Coach has trust in me and my judgment and I have trust in his. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am.”