By FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The Harlingen Lady Cardinals put in another dominating performance Friday evening at the Harlingen Gymnasium.
Sami Quilantan had 26 points, Addison Dickey scored 20 points and Elvira Fraga contributed 14 points as the trio led the Lady Cards to 72-41 victory over the young San Benito Lady Greyhounds.
The win gave Harlingen its seventh-straight victory and improved the team to 3-0 in District 32-6A, and 17-1 overall.
“I didn’t like how we started,” said Harlingen head coach Ashley Moncivaiz. “I felt we weren’t putting the pressure on them and we were letting them move, and do certain things that they wanted to, and I think that’s why they were able to score like they did early on.
“In the second we stepped it up and hammered them on defense, and started putting the pressure. We were able to make the statement that we’re going to come out here and we’re going to work.”
And the Lady Cards did make a statement.
After trailing 13-10 in the first period, Harlingen’s suffocating defense picked up the tempo and allowed only six points the entire second quarter.
The Lady Cards went on a commanding 31-6 run, to finish the first half up 41-19.
“Our chemistry was off (in the first period) because we weren’t putting pressure on defense and we weren’t clicking on the offense the same way,” said Moncivaiz. “Once we began applying that pressure that was when our offense started moving.”
With the loss, the Lady ’Hounds fell to 10-8 overall and 1-2 in district. However, despite the setback, Lady Greyhounds head coach Abel Moreno Jr. believes his team will do just fine in district action.
“We played hard tonight,” said Moreno. “I told them not to about it. We have time to work on getting better and, ultimately, that’s our goal.
“Our goal is to get better because the district (schedule) is young, were ready to play and we’re going to get better, and I’m happy with them.”
For the Lady ’Hounds, McKayla Garcia led the team with 12 points and Alexis Cavazos scored eight points, while teammates Miranda Vallejo and Emilee Barraza both contributed seven points a piece.
Both teams will play in the Dairy Queen Blizzard tournament in McAllen on Dec. 29.