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LADY MAVERICKS' THIRD CHARM THUMPS HIGHTOWER

Lady Mavericks' third charm thumps Hightower

STEVE COLLINS

The Alvin Sun | 1/15/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Prentice C. James

The third time proved indeed to be the charm for the Manvel Lady Mavericks Friday night.

Senior guard Mckinzie Green pumped in a game-high 19 points and senior forward Deja Williams delivered 15 points to pave the way for a 57-46 Lady Maverick triumph over Fort Bend Hightower in a 24- 5A girls’ basketball showdown between the two state-ranked teams at the MHS Competition Gym.

The victory not only landed Manvel (27-3 overall, 9-1) in a tie atop the league standings with Hightower, it also gave head coach Bryan Harris’ squad their first win over the Lady Hurricanes in three attempts this season.

“I just think we did a good job of playing defense,” Harris said following the game. “We knew they are loaded and have a lot of talent. We were worried about the boards and they hurt us on the boards, but I’m real proud of the girls.

“They didn’t think about me, they thought about we and that’s the reason they were successful.”

Free throw shooting also played a critical role in the pendulum finally swinging in the Lady Mavs’ favor on Friday. Manvel converted an impressive 19 of 21 FT ‘s (90 percent), while Hightower went just 7 of 17 (42 percent) from the line. The Lady Mavs connected on an incredible 16 in a row from the charity stripe at one stretch and were 8 of 9 during the final period, when they increased a tenuous three-point cushion into double digits.

Green agreed that getting the Lady Hurricanes the third time around was “the biggest victory of the season” for her teammates.

“We had to get this W, because they (Hightower) had gotten us back-to-back,” the Texas A&M signee said. “This win helped us tremendously. We were able to stop their dribble penetration and that slowed them down.

“This was exciting. We were really jumping around and cheering in the locker room after the game. It was fun.”

Green drilled a three-pointer to open the game and Anessa Dussette also knocked down a jumper to give Manvel a quick 5-0 edge and the Lady Mavs led 14-11 following the initial eight minutes. Daniela Perdomo’s trey then sparked Manvel to a 10-0 run in the second with Green, Ashlynn Freeman and Williams also providing buckets for a 24-11 Lady Mavs’ advantage with five minutes left in the period.

Hightower answered with 10 unanswered tallies of their own, though, and drew within a 26- 23 deficit at intermission.

While Winnie Kuimi’s field goal gave the Lady Hurricanes their first lead of the contest at 28-26 early in the third, Perdomo ultimately added another three-pointer to regain the upper hand for the Lady Mavs at 31-28. Williams and Green each later chipped in a pair of free throws, as well, to increase the margin to 37-32 into the final period.


Williams drained a three-pointer to stretch the Lady Mavs’ lead to 44-36 with 5:12 left and also combined with Green, Dussette and Joy Chanslor to put the contest out of reach from the free throw line.

“I was upset with the 10-0 run they made at the end of the second quarter,” Harris said. “I just felt we weren’t intense enough. But it’s hard to stop Mckinzie when she’s leading the charge and Anessa also had a great second half and Ashlynn did too. They all did good.”

Manvel next hosts Shadow Creek on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Hightower 80 Manvel boys 66 - Despite sophomore center Shaun Walker providing a double double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, the Mavericks (16-10 overall, 4-4) dropped this road contest with the Hurr... Click here to read full article

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