BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Ashley Smith started it. Lyndsey Garza finished it.
Though Friday’s game between Mission Veterans Memorial and Rio Grande City was a back-and-forth duel between two teams with playoff aspirations, it was a one-two punch from the Vets guards that helped seal the 33-28 victory for the Lady Patriots.
The win sets up a three-team tie for second place in District 31-5A with one regular season date remaining. Vets, Rio and Edinburg Vela enter their respective season finales Tuesday with 7-5 district records. Along with Roma, four teams are competing for three playoff spots.
As the postseason draws near, every game in 31-5A carries postseason implications. Though Friday’s win didn’t clinch a playoff berth for the Lady Patriots, it means a season sweep of the Lady Rattlers, which could come in handy for any potential tiebreakers.
Smith, returning from a three-game absence due to a sore Achilles, felt the energy of the moment on the court.
“It was intense,” the senior guard said. “We kept trading baskets with them the whole game, and we had to come from behind at the end.”
Smith did her part to give Vets a 12-7 lead after the first quarter, hitting her first three shots and a pair of free throws to score eight first-quarter points. But Smith’s hot shooting cooled. For the remainder of the game, she went just 2-of-9 from the field.
Smith finished with a team-high 15 points, two points shy of her season average.
Though Rio (22-10, 7-4) saw scoring contributions from just three players, none were more effective than Jocy Amaya. The sophomore post totaled a game-high 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds and collected six steals. Thanks to 11 first-half points, Amaya helped tie the game at 20 before the break.
For a game in which no team led by more than six points, defense and rebounding were paramount. Though Rio enjoyed a size advantage, it struggled to dominate the boards, grabbing 26 rebounds to the Lady Patriots’ 22.
Though Vets post Rosa Silva didn’t score, her team-high five rebounds — most coming during the fourth quarter — proved critical during a night when every possession counted.
“It was pretty tough,” Silva said of battling in the paint against a bigger Rio team. “But it’s just one of those things where you tell yourself you have to do it. You have to pick your team up. We needed this win.”
With a 26-25 lead heading into the final quarter, Rio looked to kill clock and exercise patience on offense. Though a lone free throw courtesy Amaya made it 27-25 with 7:26 remaining, it was the last point the Lady Rattlers scored until the 1:17 mark. In the interim, Rio was plagued by turnovers, of which it committed six.
“I think we just cracked,” Rio coach Gustavo Valenciana said. “That’s what happens when you have a player like Ashley Smith who can take over a game and get some easy buckets for you. We don’t have that. We had our chances, we just couldn’t capitalize.”
While Rio’s fourth-quarter offense was composed of two foul shots, Vets (21-13, 7-4) turned its defense into offense. Off of the Lady Rattlers’ miscues, Garza scored six points in the final eight minutes, all on a series of transition layups.
“We studied them on film and saw they were a team that liked to drive,” Garza said. “So we played a 2-3 zone against them and tried to collapse whenever someone got near the rim. I think we came in prepared tonight, and the results showed it.”
Vets concludes the season on the road against Vela, while Rio will host Sharyland High. Both games tip at 6 p.m. Tuesday.