H.M. King High School’s varsity girls basketball team broke a prolonged winless district streak - believed to have lasted as many as eight consecutive years - when the Lady Brahmas downed Laredo Cigarroa 36-28 this past Tuesday.

Freshman Jasmine Richardson scored 11 points, eight rebounds and seven steals. Sophomore Kaylie Hahn supplied seven points and 12 rebounds. Senior Leila Barrera notched seven points, nine rebounds and five steals. Junior Tayla Holliday tallied five points, nine rebounds and a steal. Senior Ashley Martinez contributed four points and a pair of steals. Senior Hannah Peterson scored two points, four rebounds and six steals.

Going into their game against Flour Bluff this past Friday, the Lady Brahmas were 1-1 in district and 8-3 overall.

Head Coach Ann Callis said Tuesday’s win was an alleviation.

“It was a huge feeling of relief and I am so happy for the girls because they now see that their hard work has finally paid off,” Callis said. “Some of these girls have been with me for three years now so I wanted them to feel successful and my seniors were especially excited about getting this win. We have had wins in non-district games these past couple of seasons but district is a totally different thing.”

The Lady Brahmas took a lead in the opening period they would never surrender.

“We took the lead in the first quarter and never looked back,” Callis said. “We took a 10 point lead into halftime and focused in the second half on building on that lead and got as far ahead as 18 points. Up until the last minute I was apprehensive in not wanting to run away with it yet but the girls were doing everything right, taking good shots, hustled the entire game and it paid off for us.”

Under Callis - who is currently in her third year as head coach - H.M. King has steadily improved through polished rudiments.

“Our fundamentals have gotten a lot better, that is something we focus on early every season,” Callis said. “More than that is it just confidence from our girls who go out there giving everything they have and it is a different overall attitude from my first year. Last year we did not win any district games but five of our losses were by less than eight points.”

Cohesiveness was another factor in the Lady Brahmas defeating the Lady Toros.

“Tuesday night was a whole different level of teamwork, everybody stepped up and played their part,” Callis said. “Everyone contributed constructive feedback and it is just a different attitude all the way around.”

H.M. King should perform even better once they pluck out one of their biggest fleas.

“Turnovers. We have hit our career high in that category, we had a terrible outing against Laredo LBJ in our first district game,” Callis said. “It seemed like every other possession was a turnover, sometimes we try to make too much happen and go a little beyond our schemes. Turnovers are going to happen but we still need to get that number down.”