By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Lopez Lady Lobos found their offense when they needed it most.
Led by Mimi Garcia’s 22 points, the Lady Lobos overcame a fourth-quarter deficit and defeated the Pace Lady Vikings 51-44 in overtime Tuesday at Lopez.
Garcia struggled early but found her shot during the second half. At one point in the fourth quarter, she scored eight straight points and tied the game at 33 late in the fourth.
Paloma Trevino had 10 points, 10 rebounds, a pair of blocks and also had a hand in the Lady Lobos’ comeback.
“I think she started feeling her shot,” Lopez coach Stephen Davis said of Garcia. “Understanding when to take it and when she should be true to the offense, but she did a great job. A lot of that I didn’t script.She felt her way when she should be aggressive and when she shouldn’t, and it worked for us.”
Garcia led the charge in overtime for the Lady Lobos and also finished with five assists and five rebounds on the night.
Katie Quezada led Pace with 11 points and had seven rebounds. Jenny Garza finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Olga Guevara added 10 points and six rebounds for the Lady Vikings.
Pace took control early and maintained it throughout. The Lady Vikings led by six points heading into the fourth quarter, 24-18. After Pace added a bucket early in the fourth, the Lady Vikings had a nine-point advantage after scoring seven straight points.
Garcia hit a jumper to end the Lady Lobos’ scoring drought and then proceded to hit a 3-pointer and was fouled attempting another. She hit all three free throws to get Lopez within four points. After Trevino hit a jumper, Garcia’s layup tied it at 33 with less than three minutes to play.
It looked like Pace was going to escape with a road win when Jasmine Vela had a bucket to give the Lady Vikings a 37-35 lead with 35 seconds left in the fourth. But Yadia Mejia hit two big free throws to tie the game at 37 with 17 seconds left and eventually send it to overtime.
Mejia finished with nine points for Lopez.
The Lady Vikings had their chances, missing a few layups and several free throws down the stretch, settling for overtime.
“If you can’t execute in the last two minutes, you’re going to lose,” Pace coach Kris Metzmaker said. “That’s why we lost to Edcouch the other day. We didn’t execute on the layups or the free throws.”
Garcia continued the fourth-quarter momentum, and the Lady Lobos outscored Pace 14-7 in the overtime period.
Metzmaker said her team is dealing with a few injuries and a bout with the flu, but she wouldn’t make any excuses.
“I have a lot of kids that haven’t practiced (because of the flu). If you don’t practice, you’re going to play like that,” she said. “They were better than us today, they deserved to win . They played really well at the end when they needed to. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t execute, we didn’t finish.”
Lopez had just 18 points through three quarters but scored 19 during the fourth quarter and added 14 in overtime.
“It’s a new offensive system that we think will suit the girls well,” Davissaid. “That was the culmination of all of that. When the system gets clicking we should be fine. The girls are confident in the system, and they took over and did their thing.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.