BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — How inexperienced was Madeline Ayala when she joined the Mission Juan Diego Academy Lady Lions basketball team in 2012?
“I didn’t even know what a pick was,” the junior forward said.
Ayala’s case is not unusual for the second-year program.
The Lady Lions play for a private school so small, the program doesn’t have a freshman or junior varsity team, meaning the Lady Lions sport one of the more eclectic rosters in the Valley.
“We do the best with what we have,” Juan Diego coach Tony Casso said.
What Casso has is a surprise title contender that today travels to Mansfield to play Friday in the TAPPS 1A District 6 state semifinal. The team is made up of seasoned varsity talent and players who only recently learned the fundamentals of basketball.
Credit for the team’s successful coalescence in part belongs Casso’s mother and assistant, Teresa Casso — a Hall of Famer who spent 32 years as head girls basketball coach at McAllen High before retiring after the 2010 season.
“This is the family business,” Tony said. “When I was offered the job as coach, I told them that she had to come with me. I couldn’t do it without her.”
Though Teresa spent her career guiding one of the Valley’s most tenured programs at McHi, she says she didn’t feel daunted when she was called on to assist in building the Lady Lions from scratch.
“What helped me was I was a middle school coach at one time,” Teresa said. “And when I was at McHi, I was very involved in the freshman and J.V. teams. I knew how to coach up players.”
When mother and son begin molding players, they start with the game’s elementary components: passing, dribbling, setting screens. From there they focus on sound defensive fundamentals.
“We teach defense first because it’s easier to teach than offense,” Teresa said. “We have a saying that says ‘defense wins championships.’ Offensive teams can always have an off-night.”
The Lady Lions began their inaugural campaign 0-8, a bumpy, if expected, start. It wasn’t until the arrival of guard Jasmine Long, who transferred from McAllen Memorial midway through the season, that the Lady Lions began to turn into a promising squad.
“When Jasmine got here, you could see everyone try and bring their game up to her level,” Tony said. “Everyone wanted to get better.”
Long knew of Teresa from her time growing up in McAllen, and says her presence made joining the Lady Lions an easy choice. But even Long, formerly a wing, had to adjust to a new position under the Casso style of play.
“We had to teach (Jasmine) how to play point guard,” Teresa said. “She had to learn how to run the offense and be an effective passer.”
With the addition of Long and the team’s physical style of defense, the Lady Lions advanced to the playoffs in their first year, losing in the first year.
This season, Long averaged 21.5 points, the highest of any girls player in the Valley. Her sister Karla, a freshman guard, rebounded from a torn right LCL suffered during volleyball season to average 16 points along with a team-high 5 assists. Ayala averages 12.2 rebounds despite being undersized for her position.
The team’s increased talent led to splitting the TAPPS 1A District 6 championship with rival Brownsville First Baptist, who the Lady Lions play Friday at 6 p.m. for a bid to the state championship game Saturday. It will mark the fifth time the teams have faced each other this season, with First Baptist leading the season series 3-1.
“Both teams know each other very well,” Teresa said. “We could probably call their plays and they could probably call ours. It’s going to be a tough game, but the girls are excited and I think they’ll be ready.”