Basketball Recap: Alyana Mcgarity Leads a Balanced Attack to Beat Smithson Valley

After losing to Smithson Valley the last time they met, New Braunfels decided to demonstrate that turnabout is fair play. The New Braunfels Unicorns came out on top against the Smithson Valley Rangers by a score of 62-49 on Friday. Given the Unicorns' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 275th, while the Rangers are ranked 571st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead New Braunfels to victory, but perhaps none more so than Alyana Mcgarity, who went 9 of 20 en route to 21 points and six steals. The dominant performance gave Mcgarity a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Yaniska Mestre, who posted ten points along with eight assists and six steals.

Despite the loss, Smithson Valley saw an underclassman step up: freshman Olivia Lindner had 11 points. Another player making a difference was Teagan Escobedo, who scored seven points.

New Braunfels now has a winning record of 17-16. As for Smithson Valley, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost seven of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-21 record this season.

New Braunfels will head out to take on Boerne-Champion at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. New Braunfels has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games. As for Smithson Valley, they will be playing at home against Wagner at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Wagner has 17 straight wins, Smithson Valley has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.