The Burnet High School girls basketball team lost to Salado 5721 Jan. 13 and to Taylor 37-26 Jan. 16 in District 24-4A play.
Salado shot 26 percent from the floor and had 12 assists, four blocks and 25 steals.
”We’re trying to get rid of all the turnovers,” Burnet head coach Kim Payten said. “We’ve been working overtime, trying to fix it and trying to translate the things that we do during the week into our gameday routine. I think it’s been a little frustrating for the girls and for me, too, that in practice we do things so well, and then we get in a game and it’s so different.”
Burnet had 45 rebounds, seven steals, six blocks and three assists. But the turnovers had the Lady Dawgs’ attention.
Gym space is a challenge, so the Lady Dawgs all practiced at the same time. To maximize the limited number of practice minutes, the varsity and junior varsity work together in drills and scrimmages. Payten said coaches across the state face that issue throughout the school year. And she made some decisions to best help her varsity.
”And so we got creative this past week, and we did some things a little different as far as isolating a certain amount of time for just the varsity to go against just the varsity,” she said. “And that takes me away from the younger kids a little bit, but at the same time, we’re in the middle of district and we need to get that quality time together. And so I saw a lot of growth as far as the turnover situation, when we eliminated the younger kids from being in the gym with us and just focused on doing what we needed to do to get better.”
While they still had a loss against Taylor, the Lady Dawgs were more encouraged because they could see the improvements and what they practiced was evident during the contest. They had a half-time lead and then the Lady Ducks began matching them basket for basket.
”I think we played hard,” Payten said. “It’s just in the last three minutes, we ran out of energy. And we’ve not really done that. And so I think moving into this week, we’re going to do some of the same things trying to prepare more for each opponent. I think we’re getting better every week.”
What makes Payten so proud is that no matter the score, the Lady Dawgs still play with maximum effort, still remain determined to succeed, and still continue to remain coachable during a district campaign that has a lot of parity.
”They’ve not lost the will to show up,” she said. “It’s hard to show up when you don’t win, when you have no payoff or no return. And so I’m very proud of them.”
Burnet has two more games left in the first round of district play beginning with a road trip to Jarrell Tuesday, Jan. 20, with the subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:15 p.m. Then the Lady Dawgs welcome Lampasas Friday, Jan. 23, with the junior varsity playing at 5 p.m., the varsity at 6:15 p.m. and the freshmen at 7:30 p.m.
”I knew after the Marble Falls game (a 46-28 loss Jan. 9) it was going to be tough to get back on that horse and go for the next,” Payten said. “But I have some kids who are resilient and they understand that this is what we’re working with and we’re getting better as individuals and we’re getting better at things that we weren’t better at. And so I’m hopeful that we’re going to get through this first half of district and we’ll be a new team for the second half of district. And I think the kids are rebooted and ready to go for that.”
Jennifer Fierro publishes reports about area youth athletic events on her website TexasChalkTalk.com. To send her a note, email fierrojennifer@ yahoo.com.
