By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — Coming off last week’s 500th career victory for Los Fresnos’ Kim Edquist, the Lady Falcons put win No. 501 in the books for their coach Tuesday with a 35-22 District 32-6A triumph at home against the San Benito Lady Greyhounds.
Yet for Edquist, now in her 26th year as a coach, the victory in district Tuesday meant a whole lot more to her than reaching the 500-win plateau or even moving on to No. 501.
“It wasn’t 501 (that was so noteworthy), it was just getting that one district win tonight that was the most important thing,” Edquist said. “Really, like I said earlier, 501 is just a number, while this game was very important for us (district-wise).
“Our girls came out like troopers and just nailed it, especially on defense, so I’m excited for them,” Edquist added. “We just stepped up our game tonight.”
The victory kept the Lady Falcons undefeated in 32-6A at 2-0. They are 13-6 overall.
San Benito slipped to 10-6 and 1-1.
The Lady Greyhounds had just beaten Los Fresnos 45-38 in the consolation championship of the McAllen Border Bash tournament Nov. 21.
The Lady Greyhounds had far more success shooting from the outside in that earlier matchup with the Lady Falcons. Los Fresnos’ strong showing on defense Tuesday frustrated the visitors.
“I knew we might have trouble with their zone (defense) because we hadn’t been shooting all that well,” San Benito coach Abel Moreno Jr. said. “We shot 70 percent from the field the other night against Hanna, but we’ve been struggling (with our shots) from the field (lately). We were hot and cold, and we just couldn’t hit tonight.”
Los Fresnos never trailed. The Lady Falcons led 10-5 after one quarter and 18-11 at halftime. They took a 31-12 advantage into the final period after outscoring San Benito 13-1 during the third quarter.
The Lady Falcons’ biggest lead of 19 points, 31-12, came with 10.3 seconds left in the third period as Cristi Garza sank the first of two free throws.
Meanwhile, San Benito didn’t register its first field goal of the second half until the 5:59 mark of the fourth quarter when Emilee Barraza scored on a drive to make it 31-14.
Los Fresnos point guard Lynette Duran led all scorers with 11 points, including a 3-pointer. Kelsi McDonough, Cassie Parra and Amy Ruiz each added four points.
San Benito was led by Barraza’s nine points. She had a pair of 3-pointers. Mikayla Garcia added seven points.
Edquist picked up her 500th career win last Friday at Lopez with a 70-44 district-opening victory over the Lady Lobos. The veteran coach was honored for reaching that milestone prior to Tuesday’s game.
District action continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday as Los Fresnos is at home against Harlingen South and San Benito plays at Harlingen High.