Coming off a 48-46 victory over Fort Stockton on Jan. 17, the Maidens take their 2-1 district, 13-12 overall record up against 2-1 Andrews at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
“After the Fort Stockton game, I felt that we still have some improvements to make,” senior post Destini Thomas said. “The Andrews game will be a fair game.”
The Maidens need to make a strong showing against the Lady Mustangs.
“The Andrew’s team will be coming out strong,” senior guard Myka Alvidrez said. “So we will need to come out 10 times stronger with all we have.”
Without senior Madison Froman who was injured in December, the Maidens have had to make adjustments, but Andrews has the same problem.
“Andrews lost their biggest girl,” Thomas said. “So we’re equal as of now.”
The Maidens have been working on weaknesses both as a team and individually.
“I need to work on my drives,” Alvidrez said. “[In the Fort Stockton game] none of them were going in. I also need to work on my endurance; I need to pick that up to help us win.”
With Greenwood currently holding first place with a 3-0 district record, tonight’s game is a race for the next spot.
“I think we’ll be playing with a lot of energy knowing it’s a big game,” Faught said. “They know that whoever wins gets second place in this district round.”
Home court advantage could come into play.
“There’s no way to tell how we’ll do against Andrews,” Faught said. “We’re evenly matched. Our being at home will give us a slight advantage.”
The rivalry between the Andrews and the Maidens is ongoing.
“I think we’ll do well against Andrews,” senior guard Moriama Mendoza said. “They always bring good competition, but if we play like we did [against Fort Stockton] we can pull through another win.”
In the Fort Stockton game the Maidens and Prowlers were tied at 46 with a little over a minute to go.
“When we were tied I was nervous,” Alvidrez said. “It felt like I had to do everything to keep us from losing.”
The Maidens felt the pressure.
“It was intense,” Mendoza said. “I didn’t know what would happen. I just knew that we had to play with confidence and show them that we wanted [the win] more than they did.”
Alvidrez scored a career high 20 points on Fort Stockton.