Fast and Furious: Athletics blow past Houston with an early run
Published 10:11 pm Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Lyle-Pacelli’s Brooke Walter heads in for two off a breakaway in the first half against Houston Tuesday night in Pacelli. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
If you showed up a few minutes late to the Lyle-Pacelli girls home basketball game in Pacelli Tuesday night, you missed a lot of action.
The No. 7 ranked Athletics opened in commanding fashion as they powered past Houston (0-5 overall, 0-5 SEC) 85-23 in Pacelli Gym.
Lyle-Pacelli’s Sarah Holtz puts a shot over a pair of Houston defenders during the first half Tuesday night in Pacelli. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
LP (7-0 overall, 7-0 SEC) led 21-0 just three minutes into the game and LP freshman point guard Brooke Walter scored 17 of her 19 points in the game’s first seven minutes. Walter also finished with four assists and five steals in limited minutes as LP played its bench much of the second half.
“We want her to be as aggressive as possible on the offensive and defensive ends,” LP head coach Justin Morris said. “She does so many things that don’t show up in a stat sheet and she’s really matured a tremendous amount. Her taking a big step is one of the reasons we think we’re a special basketball team this year.”
Walter is in her first year as a starter, and she’s already stepping up as one of LP’s leaders. She said the Athletics are a different team when they come out in the full court press like they did on Tuesday.
“When we press we get off to a good start. We pick up the speed and we play to our level,” Walter said. “We have to play up to our potential every game so we keep getting better. We have to push ourselves and work hard for every single point.”
LP forced 35 turnovers and many of them led to easy lay-ups.
LP had 11 different players score in the win. Sarah Holtz had 21 points, nine rebounds and six steals and Madison Truckenmiller had seven points, five rebounds and four steals.
“Our kids were really unselfish tonight and that’s one of the keys for us this year is to stay unselfish,” Morris said.
Houston 14 9 — 23
LP 57 28 — 85
LP scoring: Sarah Holtz, 21; Brooke Walter, 19; Courtney Walter, 8; Madison Truckenmiller, 7; Caitlin Roberts, 5; Lucy Nelson, 4; Kendal Truckenmiller, 4; Abby Bollingberg, 4; Shakana Quelle, 4; Kristie Fett, 4; Olivia Christianson, 2; Maggie Leif, 2; Bethany Strouf, 1; free throws: 50 percent (9-for-18); rebounds: 38 (Holtz, 9); turnovers: 13
