BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
McAllen Memorial has played just one game during the early part of the season — a 53-48 loss to Sharyland High. After an eight-day layoff, the Lady Mustangs return to the court today at the McAllen ISD Border Bash tournament, where they will play six games in three days.
As coach Clarisse Arredondo readies Memorial for the compact schedule, she’s also acclimating Draik Banks, Kaley Caldwell and Valeria Treviño to the roster after returning to the team from volleyball — a reason for the Lady Mustangs’ week off.
“Draik is doing well at practice,” Arredondo said. “She’s making post moves and working on her inside game. Kaley is getting a lot of shots up. She worked on that a lot this summer.”
Along with guard Victoria Izaguirre and post Ebony Johnson, Banks and Caldwell are two of Memorial’s four returning starters.
Arredondo says the Border Bash will be a time to give players as many minutes as possible. She hopes the weekend’s rigorous workload will get her team in shape and prepare it for a run at the District 30-6A title. One player Arredondo hopes to be a sparkplug is freshman guard Tani Talamantez.
“We’re always looking inside for our big girls to score, but we hope Tani can open up opportunities for some of our other guards to really shine,” Arredondo said. “Last year with Victoria, she spent a lot of time pushing the ball up the floor, and she didn’t always get a chance to score. This year with Tani, she could get more chances.”
GLOWING PERFORMANCE
Before Tuesday’s 60-51 win over Brownsville Hanna, Edcouch-Elsa coach Daniel Richardson received a look from junior point guard Janie Herrera.
“She was really focused before the game,” Richardson said. “During the national anthem, she looked at me and started smiling like, ‘Today is going to be a good time.’”
Whatever Herrera’s premonition was, it was proven prophetic by a 34-point performance in which she went 7-of-9 from behind the arc. Richardson said Herrera had license to shoot whenever Hanna allowed her the space.
“She’s been building her confidence up over the last couple of games,” Richardson said. “In our last two games, she’s scored 17 and 23 points.”
Richardson is in his first year as coach of the Lady Yellowjackets. After six games, the team is 3-3 and still working on finding their identity.
“We’re still trying to figure out the chemistry,” Richardson said. “We’ve been working on developing skills so much, that it took away from the X’s and O’s. We’re still implementing that and learning the little stuff, stuff like boxing out, pivoting. They’re starting to get it and know that there will be a lot more movement on the court.”
SOONER THAN EXPECTED
PSJA North guard Sarah Serrano scored 14 points during Tuesday’s 63-57 win over Brownsville St. Joseph Academy just three weeks after injuring a knee.
Serrano was due to have surgery and miss up to six weeks. After getting a second opinion, the senior guard was instead put on three weeks rest.
“The doctor re-did the X-rays and thought she was too young for the type of surgery she was going to have,” coach Randy Bocanegra said. “There was a torn piece of cartilage, but apparently it just healed itself.”
Though the Lady Raiders (8-0) saw Serrano return, they were without forward Belle Palacios, who sat with a stiff neck suffered during last week’s La Joya ISD tournament.
“We haven’t had our core play together yet,” Bocanegra said. “We haven’t had our three players. We’re taking 10 days off though, so the rest comes at a good time for us. We should have all of our players once we get back on the court.”
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