Lady Marlins draw bye in first round of play-offs
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

The P ort Ar ansas Lady M arli ns

b a sk e tb a ll t e a m i s c ham pio n of

District 31-1A, Division 1, and now

they're officially preparing for a run

at the playoffs.

"I fe el great" a bou t the tea m's

ch an c e s , said Ra nd y He nd erson,

coach of the Lady Marlins, who were

8-0 in district play after beating the

Lady Eagles at Pettus High School on

Tuesday, Feb. 6. "I think we're playing

our best ball." All of the players

are healthy, too, he said.

The La dy Marlins w i ll play the

Somerset Lady Bulldogs in a warmup

game at Tilden High School at 7

p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10. The game is

supposed to help keep the players'

skills sharp during the period before

the playoffs start. Somerset, winner

of Distri ct 27-3A, is just south of San Antonio.

La dy C oman c he s o r t he Bra c ket "We're a l l re ally, really exci t ed

and ready to go far" in the playoffs,

said Whitney Williams, a senior who

plays po s t f or the L ad y M arlin s,

ranked second in Class 1, Division

I, by the Texas Association of Basketball

Coaches.

Williams said the Lady Marlins are

especially prepared for the playoffs

this year because they played against

some big high schools with extratough

teams earlier this season. Also,

the Lady M arlins ar e ar med with

several players who got experience

in the playoffs last year.

"I think we're going into the playoffs

a lot wiser," Williams said.

After the warm-up game, the Lady

Marlins will move to the area round

of the playoffs. They could end up

facing the Louise High School Lady

Ho rn e t s, the Shin er High S ch ool

High School Tigerettes on Feb. 15,

16 or 17.

Next would be the regional quarter

finals F eb 2 1-2 2, b ut tha t field is

more wide-open at this point, making

it more difficult to say which team

could end up competing against the

Lady Marlins at that level. Regional

finals will be Feb. 23-24.

The state tournament at the Frank

Erwin Special Events Center in Austin

is March 1-3.

Steve Reaves, athletic director of

the Port Aransas Independent School

District, said the Lady Marlins the

past few weeks have been playing

better than any other Lady Marlins

team of the "last several years." Team

play has been key, he said.

"If everyone continues to play like

that, we have a chance to be successful,"

he said.