BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — When Mission High girls basketball coach Rachel Carmona selected her starting roster Thursday night at Neuhaus Gym in Mission, she did so with a devil may care attitude.
“Let’s see how that one does,” Carmona said.
And, much like the Lady Eagles season thus far, it proceeded to go abysmally. Mission began the opening quarter against Brownsville Hanna by committing nine turnovers and scoring just two baskets. Shoddy ball handling and poor shooting throughout the evening doomed the Lady Eagles to a lopsided 76-31 loss.
As for her choice of starters, Carmona described their performance as “unpredictable.”
The Lady Eagles (2-8) were without three players due to injury, including senior forward Frida Alverez. Alverez, who averages 13 points a game, is out until at least January with a knee injury.
Hanna (10-3) was led in scoring by junior guard Carolina Moreno with 17 points. Moreno also grabbed three rebounds and collected two assists.
The Lady Golden Eagles guards dominated all night. Their press defense overpowered a slow-footed Mission team, including senior guard Emberly Garza, who was nursing an injured right ankle. Garza scored three points on 1-of-7 shooting.
“The girls came out and they were aggressive,” Hanna coach Luis Gonzalez said. “That’s one thing we do on the defensive end. That opened up a lot on the offensive end.”
The Lady Golden Eagles got whatever they wanted offensively. Be it put backs from center Taylor Cano, to a trio of 3-point bombs courtesy of Priscilla Hernandez, Hanna racked up buckets at will.
“District’s around the corner,” Gonzalez said. “We still have some things we need to fix like free throw shooting, high percentage shots. But, I’m just happy with the efforts my girls made.”
The lone bright spot for Mission was the play of senior forward Daniela Perez, a double-double machine who ended with 18 points and 12 rebounds. With her teammate Alverez sitting on the sideline in jeans, Hanna routinely swarmed Perez in the post.
“There were three girls guarding me every time I had the ball,” Perez said. “I just passed it back out to my teammates and tried to get better position.”
Though Mission’s shooters hoisted away, the touch simply wasn’t there. Aside from Perez, the Lady Eagles shot a lowly 5-of-25 from the field.
Despite the less than ideal start, Perez sees a silver lining that could pay dividends as the season progresses and bodies mend.
“We’re just getting ready,” she said. “These are just practice games that we have to take one by one. There are sophomore and freshman guards who need the experience.”