Lady Mustangs looking tough to beat at 20 wins

Grapevine girls basketball coach Lindy Lombard allows her team to enjoy the moment. After winning the Saginaw Boswell tournament, Lombard wanted her team to embrace the championship.

When the Lady Mustangs reached 20 wins – they are now 20-2 overall and 2-0 in District 6-5A play – she wanted her players to enjoy the accomplishment.

“With our situation, we celebrate those things,” Lombard said. “The rankings, tournament championships are all great. We worked hard to get those. But district play is when it counts. We want to get to the playoffs. I definitely want the girls to be happy. But then it’s time to turn the page.”

The Lady Mustangs appear to be the class of the district. Following their bye on Saturday, they resumed play on Tuesday against Fort Worth Carter-Riverside. They meet Birdville on Friday.

What was odd was in their 64-28 victory over Fort Worth Dunbar on Dec. 19, Grapevine trailed 11-2 early and then outscored the Lady Wildcats, 62-17, the rest of the way.

“That was a learning experience for us,” Lombard said. “But Abby Sandy got hot and hit a couple of threes. That spurred us on a little run before the end of the first half.”

But with 20 wins, this team knows it is going to get every opponent’s best effort. That’s just what happens when you’re considered the favorite.

“It’s a new challenge with a target on our back,” Lombard said. “We just have to play accordingly. That’s all we can do.”

Notable

Senior point guard Mandi Routon had surgery to her torn ACL on Dec. 30, Lombard said. The surgery was considered successful. Routon began her rehab immediately. Lombard knows from experience when it comes to coming back from a knee surgery. She tore her ACL in her sophomore year when she played basketball at Midwestern State.

Colleyville Heritage update

The Lady Panthers (13-10, 2-1 in District 7-6A) resumed their district season this past Saturday with a tough 45-33 loss at Euless Trinity. And it really wasn’t that close. The Lady Trojans led 41-22 going into the fourth quarter. Being outscored 20-10 in the second quarter and committing 27 turnovers were too much to overcome.

“We just had trouble with their aggressive and physical style,” coach Dianna Sager said. “We still miss Catlyn (Foster) because her size (5-7) would have helped against their bigger guards. It was hard for us to throw over the top and try and beat them.

“We watched Trinity three times in the Duncanville tournament and they watched us all five games. They just knew our weaknesses.”

As the district season continues Friday against Haltom, Sager knows just about every team is going to try and keep the ball out of freshman phenom Bryn Gerlich’s hands and force other people to beat them. Gerlich is averaging about 18 points per game.

But senior post Zhanae Whitney has started to emerge as a pretty good scorer. She’s scored in double figures in all five games of the Duncanville tournament, where Colleyville Heritage went 3-2.

“Her confidence is really growing,” Sager said. “She continues to make good decisions. I had four colleges ask about her at the Duncanville tournament. You see what she’s doing on offense along with her being a good rebounder and that makes a difference.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2015 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Lady Mustangs looking tough to beat at 20 wins."