By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Los Fresnos had its chances but didn’t finish the game off in the end.
The Lady Falcons overcame an eight-point deficit and cut the Harlingen South lead to two late in the second half. But the Lady Hawks prevailed with some clutch free throws down the stretch by Emily Susen and held on for a 49-44 victory over Los Fresnos in a District 32-6A game Tuesday at Los Fresnos.
Susen led the Lady Hawks with 15 points, five rebounds and five steals.
The Lady Falcons totaled 20 steals but didn’t convert at crucial points during the fourth quarter.
“We should have won,” Los Fresnos coach Kim Edquist said. “I felt that we lost the game with crazy turnovers and easy missed baskets. That hurt us the most, I think. You make two or three of those easy baskets that we missed out of how many, and it’s our game.”
After a back-and-forth first quarter, South took a two-point lead. The Lady Falcons responded, building a four-point advantage on consecutive buckets by Cristi Garza, Joseline Caraveo and Kelsi McDonough. Los Fresnos also received four points from Emily Pena in the quarter and held a one-point lead at the break.
The Lady Hawks came out more aggressive after halftime.
“I told them (at halftime) our defense was hurting us, we needed to make an adjustment. They were quicker than us,” South coach Kelly Garrett said. “Offensively, we needed to look at our post because she was open, we had to get Emily (Susen) going. It is vital to get her going in the game and feed off her.”
Susen responded by scoring 11 of her 15 points in the second half to help South outscore Los Fresnos 31-25 after halftime.
Lady Hawks point guard Breanna Gonzalez had 10 points and got the ball into Susen and Ruayda Bouls, who finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of steals.
“Our guards did a better job (in the second half),” Garrett said. “Bre stepped up. She played a great game.”
The Lady Falcons struggled offensively during the third quarter but nearly made up for it in the fourth. Led by Garza and McDonough, Los Fresnos almost came all the way back. Garza and McDonough combined for 11 of the Lady Falcons’ 17 points in the fourth.
Garza’s bucket cut the deficit to two at 45-43, but it was as close as the Lady Falcons got.
Garza led the Lady Falcons with 14 points and five rebounds, and McDonough had 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and six steals. Emily Pena added seven points, and Jackie Kingsbury finished with six points, eight rebounds and six steals for Los Fresnos.
Edquist applauded her team’s effort, especially down the stretch.
“The kids gave great effort, they never stopped fighting,” she said. “We’ve had a habit all season long of turning a positive into a negative instead of a positive into a positive. That’s been our thing, and I was hoping by now we would have done with that.
“We have to be able to execute and capitalize on those turnovers. We’re in the games. We’re so close, yet so far away.”
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.