The Lady Broncs were unable to repeat the success of last week’s 68-41 win over St. Edwards after a close game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Dec.18 ended with a 61-60 loss to drop their record to 2-10.
“There were just a lot of things that didn’t go our way this time around,” assistant coach Britney Jordan said. “There were a lot of shots that didn’t fall in at crucial times and that hurt us.”
Those shots were especially important in Saturday’s game. With three lead changes in the first six minutes of play, the game remained close throughout. After taking the lead with 2:04 remaining, the Lady Broncs were silenced by a jumper from Jade Davis of TAMUCC, placing the score at 61-60, where the score remained until the end of play.
“A lot of the problem was also rebounds. We just weren’t able to get enough and it really hurt us,” Jordan said. “I really think that if we had done better in that department we could have won.”
Despite the loss on Saturday, Jordan remains optimistic about the team.
“One of the things I’ve noticed about this team is that we’re consistently getting better,” she said. “This game especially, there were different people stepping up and helping us out.”
The added backing is new for the Lady Broncs. In the past, Head Coach Denny Downing has said that lack of support from the bench was one the biggest problems.
“We’re not looking for them to come out and make a bunch of big shots,” Downing said of his bench at the beginning of this month, following a four-game losing streak. “We’re really just asking them not to hurt us.”
The message may have finally taken hold of the team Saturday, as 20 of the Bronc’s 60 points were from the bench. They were also assisted by their usual top performers. Freshman Bianca Torre finished the game with 12 points, seven assists, five steals and three rebounds. Senior Aleeya Grigsby contributed 10 points and six rebounds.
The extra assistance will be greatly needed once the team enters conference play in January.
“The girls are excited about conference play right now,” Jordan said. “We’ve played a lot of great teams so far, and we’re getting better each game, so we can’t wait.”
The Lady Broncs, with a new staff and many unseasoned players, will need to further their trajectory of growth significantly to have a chance of success in conference play. They have won two of four after starting 0-8, however.
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