Lady Mustangs start district the right way

Frustration continued to build for the Grapevine girls basketball team this season. As good as the Lady Mustangs have been on defense, they have struggled to score.

But head coach Lindy Lombard saw her team respond in a positive way last week in the opening week of District 6-5A play. Grapevine (5-8, 2-0) picked up victories over Fort Worth Eastern Hills and Fort Worth Dunbar.

This is a team that needed a reason to feel good about itself. Tied at the half against Dunbar, 19-19, Grapevine played arguably its best quarter of the season when it scored 19 points and created some separation. The Lady Mustangs won 47-35 last Friday.

“It was a blessing, because we built some confidence from what happened in the second half,” Lombard said. “We really didn’t change anything. We knew if we could stay consistent with the defense and force multiple passes, we could get some things going.”

Grapevine had to navigate its way through this game with Tatum Tellin, Abby Sandy and Jessi Prater playing through foul difficulty. The Lady Mustangs also had to overcome 18 turnovers.

Grapevine has the week off and will move on to the Mansfield Spring Creek Barbecue Invitational Tournament on Monday. It will meet Round Rock Stony Point at 11:30 a.m. at Mansfield Timberview.

If the Lady Mustangs win that game, there’s a chance Lombard could face her father Joe and Canyon at 8:15 p.m. that night at Legacy.

Grapevine practiced on Saturday and is off this week.

Prater’s emergence

By any other interpretation, few would think of Prater’s week as pretty much standard. But her 10-point average (seven against Eastern Hills and 13 against Dunbar) could be viewed as an important step for her and her team.

Grapevine needs another scorer to go with Tellin and Sandy for the balance of the season. The Lady Mustangs pride themselves in distributing the ball. Prater is averaging seven points per game.

“With Jessi, she can get down on herself,” Lombard said. “But we challenged her to brush off the mistakes and she did just that. She showed a lot of mental toughness out there.”

Colleyville Heritage update

Dianna Sager has felt her 2015-2016 has the ability to be one of the most complete in her 14 seasons at Colleyville Heritage.

The Lady Panthers opened District 7-6A play with wins over Coppell and Richland and took some momentum in the Christmas off week. Colleyville Heritage (14-4, 2-0) plays in the Duncanville tournament next week.

“I just think with the attitude they have, they are unselfish and the way they are carrying themselves is pretty telling,” Sager said. “They’re all on the same page. They don’t have their own agendas. They really have bought in. It’s a special group.”

Sophomore forward Bryn Gerlich posted 30 and 31-point scoring performances. She also surpassed 1,000 career points. But her 31 points against Richland revealed growth.

“One of the most complete games I’ve ever seen from her,” Sager said. “We’re asking her to play a lot more inside this year because we lost some height last year. She was making threes (3-of-5), made her free throws (4-4), scored when she had her back to the basket and took two charges. She really set the tone.”

It's a different position for Gerlich, but it’s a different Gerlich, for that matter. She’s now 6-1 after standing 5-10 in 2014-2015.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Lady Mustangs start district the right way."