By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Rivera’s defense made all the difference against Weslaco East.
The Lady Raiders amassed 21 steals and held the Lady Wildcats scoreless for two consecutive quarters during a 26-13 win in a non-district girls basketball game Tuesday night at Rivera.
“The last time we played them, we tried to play man-to-man and we couldn’t, it was really bad matchups,” Rivera coach Willie Brown said. “This time we felt if we play zone, a couple different types of zones, maybe we would frustrate them a little bit and maybe we’d have a chance.”
Ulyssa Alvarado led Rivera with nine points — including seven in the second half — and added seven rebounds and seven steals as the Lady Raiders took the lead late in the second quarter and never looked back.
But it didn’t start that way.
Weslaco East’s Chylee Le Fevre hit a 3 and added a bucket a little while later as the Lady Wildcats started out with a 5-1 lead. Rivera went on a 3-0 run to cut the deficit, but both teams struggled with sloppy play and traded turnovers. Late in the quarter, Gisel Hinojosa had a steal and a layup to get the Lady Raiders within two.
During the second quarter, Rivera switched to a 2-3-zone defense and Weslaco East went ice cold. The Lady Raiders weren’t doing much better, finally getting a free throw by Alvarado with 5:45 left to pull within one. Later on, Hinojosa had another steal and bucket to give the Lady Raiders a 9-8 lead and added another free throw to take a 10-8 lead at the break.
“We forced them into some turnovers. I think they got in a rush to do some things and it threw them out of what they normally do,” Brown said. “(Weslaco East coach William Kromer’s) got a good ball club, I just didn’t think they played particularly well (Tuesday). On the flip side, maybe we played way better than we usually play.”
The Lady Wildcats continued to struggle from the field during the third quarter, and Rivera took advantage. Alvarado’s bucket made it 12-8 with 2:45 left, and Jenny Cardenas had a bucket and a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to push the lead to 17-8. Rivera added another basket, and Weslaco East was held scoreless for the second straight quarter.
“We just didn’t score, and I think we’re having some internal problems on our team that is more mental than physical,” Kromer said. “That’s a pure example of what my team looks like when they don’t want to play, that’s exactly what we had (Tuesday). I would like to think we’re more resilient than that.”
During the fourth, Alvarado hit two free throws to give Rivera a 21-8 lead. Weslaco East’s Mig Cepeda finally broke the scoreless streak with a pair of free throws with 6:42 left to cut it to 21-10. The Lady Raiders added a couple buckets and the Lady Wildcats hit a few more free throws but didn’t make a field goal after the first quarter.
Le Fevre led Weslaco East with five points, all in the first half. Cepeda added three points, all from the charity stripe during the second half, and grabbed five rebounds for the Lady Wildcats.
“Coach Brown does a great job, his kids play hard, I don’t take anything away from them,” Kromer said. “There is absolutely no excuse to play this poor, and don’t think for one minute I’m not going to reassess what I’m doing and what this team is doing, to say the least.”
Michelle Morales had seven points, eight rebounds and four steals, and Jenny Cardenas finished with five points and a pair of steals. Hinojosa had four points, four rebounds and five steals, and Darcy Cardenas added a pair of steals and seven rebounds for the Lady Raiders.
“We did some really good things on offense against what was presented for us,” Brown said. “We didn’t turn over the ball a lot, and I thought we took advantage of things when we had the opportunities. (Tuesday) things bounced our way and just didn’t bounce very well for them. We’re fortunate and we’ll take the win.”
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.