That was the case Tuesday night in Belton’s season opener against the Lady Panthers in Tiger Gym. After a 5-of-25 shooting performance doomed ninth-ranked Pflugerville to a 17-17 halftime tie, the visitors used a fullcourt man press in the second half to down the Lady Tigers, 52-33.
Switching from a zone press that didn’t shackle Belton in the first 16 minutes to the man press, Pflugerville ran off 21 consecutive points during a span of seven minutes and 56 seconds. The score switched from Belton being on top 21-19 to the Lady Panthers owning an iron-claw 40-21 advantage with 5:52 to go in the game.
“Their defensive scheme changed at the half and we never could adjust,” Belton coach Randy Bell said. “In the first half we were forcing them to shoot from the perimeter and we were rebounding well.
“We let that pressure get to us, but when you consider how much this group struggled over the past two seasons, what they did in the first 2½ quarters wasn’t too bad.”
A bucket by Maeli Anderson with 5:46 left in the third quarter gave Belton its final point until Tilatha Akins made a free throw with 5:52 to go in the game. The Lady Tigers actually didn’t get their next basket until Cat Curry scored with 4:22 remaining.
Pflugerville’s outbreak in the middle of the second half was led by Jill Ross, who had eighth of her game-high 13 points during the span.
“At halftime, we reinforced how important defense is to our program,” Walling said. “We talked about that during timeouts in the first half but didn’t get through to them until the half.
“Our offense feeds off our defensive pressure and the change from the zone to man started forcing turnovers that we were able to take advantage of. Also, I think there were a lot of first-game jitters on the court.”
With Pflugerville making just one of 12 field goal attempts in the first quarter, Belton led 11-8, but the Lady Panthers closed the gap to deadlock things at the half.
Pflugerville, coming off a 33-4 season and a 14-0 run through District 14-5A, also used the long arms and athleticism of 6-foot post Amina Sawyer to thwart the Lady Tigers.
Curry finished as Belton’s top scorer with seven points, while Gabby Guzman, Aynsley Young and Heitmiller added six each.
Belton will return to action Thursday when it plays host to Schertz Clemens (0-1) at 7 p.m. in the opening round of the 30-team Dr Pepper Chisholm Trail Classic.
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