By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Pace started slow but never gave up.
Crystal Eureste had 13 points to lead four Lady Viking players in double figures during the 60-51 comeback win over PSJA High in District 32-5A action Saturday at Pace.
Eureste scored nine of those during the first half and added four rebounds and four steals. Lexi Arce had 12 points, all in the second half, including a pair of 3s and six rebounds and three steals to help eliminate a fourth-quarter deficit. Nadia Mendoza chipped in 12 points, and Valerie Varek added 10 with eight rebounds for Pace.
“Pressure the ball, pressure the ball, pressure the ball, get the turnovers and that’s what they did,” Pace coach Kris Metzmaker said of what the team talked about at halftime. “The defense was great in the second half.”
It looked like the lack of rest of the holiday break was starting to catch up with the Lady Vikings. Pace played four games in the McAllen Memorial tournament earlier this week and dug themselves in a hole early.
After Pace led 6-5 in the first quarter, PSJA High went on an 8-0 run to take advantage. The Lady Bears received 10 points from Sara Jo Hernandez during the quarter and took a 17-8 lead after one.
“We’re trying to get our legs back. I know they were tired from the tournament,” Metzmaker said.
PSJA High started the second quarter on a 6-0 run to increase the lead to 15 points. Eureste ended the run with a free throw and scored six more points to fuel a 13-5 run to end the half and get the Lady Vikings within six points at the break.
Pace came out aggressive in the third quarter. The Lady Vikings started the quarter on a 4-0 run, and later Mendoza had a layup to tie the game at 30. After a PSJA High bucket, Pace took a 33-32 lead on the first 3 from Arce midway through the quarter. The Lady Bears used a 4-0 run to break a tie at 33, and the teams went back and forth for the rest of the third. But PSJA High used its defense to increase the lead to eight points by the end of the quarter.
Pace quickly got back into the game early in the fourth quarter as they started on a 6-0 run, four of those from Eureste. PSJA High held a slim 51-50 lead until Varek had a putback to give the Lady Vikings the lead for good. Arce scored off a steal on the next possession, and Pace ended the game on a 6-0 run to hold off any chance of a rally by the Lady Bears.
“We just didn’t box out. We were getting one shot and they were getting five or six shots, and that killed us,” PSJA High coach Stephanie Cantu said of letting the lead slip away in the fourth quarter. “We weren’t on the boards, and that was the difference.”
Pace outscored PSJA High 38-23 during the second half, several of the points coming in transition off turnovers.
“Defensively, we didn’t hustle like we did the first half,” Cantu said. “This was our first game since the break and that probably hurt us too.
“We started off hot, we came out strong and little by little we stopped attacking.”
Mariah West led PSJA High with 16 points and seven rebounds. Hernandez finished with 12 points, six rebounds and four steals for the Lady Bears.
Metzmaker was happy to see her team achieve something that hasn’t happened in a while.
“The fact that we came back from 15, that’s a first,” she said. “It feels awesome. We’ve been talking about not being able to finish. This is the first time they came back, got a lead and finished and won.
“It’s always been reversed, and we turned it around today. And they did exactly what the coaching staff has asked of them.”
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.