By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Hanna opened District 32-6A with three straight losses, including a pair to the top two teams in the district, Harlingen High and Brownsville Veterans Memorial.
Since then, the Lady Golden Eagles have won three straight.
Hanna has done it by improving on offense. The Lady Eagles have scored 53 points per game during the past three games, compared to just 38 during the previous three, a 15-point improvement.
The defense also has been slightly better. It is allowing less than 41 points per game, six better than before.
“We lost the first three games, we played the two big dogs (Harlingen High and Brownsville Veterans Memorial) and lost a heartbreaker against San Benito, but we’ve won our last three games,” Hanna coach Luis Gonzalez said. “We’re at 3-3 standing in the middle. The season’s still long. We still have the second (half) to go.”
Gonzalez said the team didn’t get upset during its early skid, it just made some adjustments to play more consistently, especially on offense. Now they hope to finish the first half of district play on a winning note and continue the momentum.
“I tell the girls we take it one game at a time,” he said as his team faces a road trip Friday to Los Fresnos. “But I’m proud. Anytime you can win three straight district games, it says a lot about your ball club.”
LOOKING FOR PRODUCTION
After starting the district season 2-1, Rivera has gone 1-2 during its past three games.
The Lady Raiders have dealt with injuries in the early season, and unfortunately for them, had to deal with another Tuesday as a usual starter didn’t play against Hanna due to an injury. Rivera missed that production from the starting lineup and didn’t get the help it needed from its younger bench.
“You ask for your younger kids to come in and hold (the lead), and they just didn’t,” Rivera coach Willie Brown said.
Brown hopes his younger players can take advantage as needed when injuries or a starter is having an off night.
“(We have to get) back to the drawing board, and we’ll rework it,” he said. “Our younger kids are going to have to step up and hold (the lead) when they came off the bench. Other benches produce, our bench needs to produce, too.”
RESOLVE NEEDED
After losing its first district game of the season to Harlingen High, Brownsville Veterans coach Valentin Paz said the Lady Cardinals won the game because they had resolve.
It was an especially tough loss in overtime after Brownsville Veterans jumped out to an early lead and led most of the game before allowing Harlingen High to tie it during the final minute of regulation.
Lady Chargers point guard Jordan Rudd was playing with back spasms and had to be treated by a trainer during timeouts. But the Lady Cardinals had their top three players foul out at the end of the game and still came out with a win.
Paz said his team has to show more resilience to meet its goals this season.
“If you don’t have resolve when it gets difficult, you make mistakes, you play weak,” he said. “(Three players) foul out, and they still continued to play hard. My respect and my hat’s off to every single one of those girls, and Coach (Ashley) Moncivaiz and her staff.”
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.