Tuesday girls basketball season opener at Ackerly between the Sands Mustangs and visiting New Deal Lions featured a match up of two squads picked to win their hoop districts this winter. Sands’ girls also start the season ranked fourth in the state in Class 1A by the Texas Girls Coaches Association and eighth by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. Coach Ben Connell’s Mustangs made an early statement on opening night by blowing out the Lions, 54-27). “We just flat out-worked them. Defensively, we put a lot of pressure on the ball, and the way our girls were hustling made them a lot ...