By FREDDY GONZALEZ
Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The Harlingen Lady Cardinals used a 19-3 fourth-quarter run to defeat crosstown rival Harlingen South 48-31 on Friday evening at the Lady Hawks gymnasium.
For the third time in four games, the Lady Cardinals survived another close game to extend their win streak to 15, while improving their record to 25-1 overall and 7-0 in District 32-6A.
“I feel that we started off a little bit slow tonight again, but once we kicked it into gear we started playing a lot better,” said Harlingen head coach Ashley Moncivaiz. “Nadia (Flores) played aggressive today, she had been a little off these past couple of games and with Addison (Dickey) being out, she stepped and attacked the basket.”
Harlingen had four players in double digits. Sami Quilantan lead the team with 13 points, both Elvira Fraga and Nadia Flores had 12, while Marissa Gasca chipped in 10 on a night when the score did not reflect the game.
Down 17-13 in the third quarter, Harlingen South’s Mikaela Flores scored five points in quick succession to cut the deficit to 29-26.
However, the Lady Hawks had no response to Flores as the sophomore scored 10 of her 12 points in the fourth.
Harlingen outscored South 21-3 late in the game to solidify the win.
“Going into the fourth I told them that we need to play our game,” said Moncivaiz. “At one point we were trying to do one-on-one instead of playing as a unit. And I always tell them that we are a dominating team when we have all five on the same page.”
Next up for the Lady Cards is Brownsville Rivera
For the Harlingen South, it was a game of missed opportunities. The Lady Hawks squandered numerous chances before Harlingen broke the game open.
Tina Montez scored 10 points and teammate Flores contributed five on the night.
Next up for the Lady Hawks is Brownsville Veterans.