By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Rivera guards Jenny and Darcy Cardenas are identical twins, but their differences are helping the Lady Raiders become a better team.
The seniors bring energy and are intelligent, and their defensive prowess has helped the team achieve a better record early on. But each has a different offensive skill set to balance the other.
“The kids feed off their energy,” Rivera coach Willie Brown said. “And it’s been really good having pretty much the same group back to go along with them. One (of the twins) is a little more of a shooter, and one is more of a slasher. But both really get after it on defense.”
And their different styles of leadership have helped keep the squad working together.
“I think I’m a lot more outspoken,” Jenny Cardenas said. “I’m not the best in basketball, so being vocal makes up for the lack of skills.”
Jenny enjoys being the team’s voice. She tells them when they’ve done a great job but is there to pick up her teammates when they make a mistake.
“Leaders should encourage their teammates, not criticize,” she said.
Darcy tends to lead with her actions.
“She’s a vocal leader,” Darcy said of her sister. “I’ll do it, but I won’t speak about it. I push everyone in practice with my aggressiveness, I never want to just be standing around.”
The twins also bring a dynamic mental aspect to the Lady Raiders’ squad.
“A lot of kids feed off that mental toughness, getting up to play defense, getting ready to play,” Brown said. “That’s the spark that started from them the past five or six games last year, and it has carried over to this year.”
The similarities and differences between the two haven’t happened overnight. The Cardenas twins began playing basketball — as well as volleyball and other sports — around the age of 7 or 8. Since then each has developed skills and leadership qualities to match their personality.
When they reached high school, the twins narrowed it down to three sports: basketball, volleyball and softball.
Darcy excels more at basketball, but Jenny is better at volleyball. And both use softball to help fill the time after the first two sports are completed for the year.
“(Jenny) was always better at volleyball, I was a little better at basketball,” Darcy Cardenas said. “We put more effort into one of them, and it made us better over these last four years.”
Each girl has similarities and differences than her sister, but even Coach Brown admitted he has trouble telling the two apart at times. One has a few freckles on her face and the other doesn’t, he said, but it’s still difficult at times. Both excel in the classroom, as each is in the top 10 of the senior class.
The twins were especially in unison about one thing: the playoffs.
“As seniors, we want to extend our season as much as possible,” Jenny said. “The playoffs would be perfect for us. It’s hard to believe it’s our senior year already, and I’ve never experienced the playoffs in basketball.”
Darcy agreed.
“Being my favorite sport, we want to change that this year,” she said. “We want to leave on a good note.”
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.