By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Hanna was down early but used a strong second half to hold off Rivera.
The Lady Golden Eagles overcame a halftime deficit and used a late run to pull away from the Lady Raiders during a 40-33 victory in District 32-6A girls basketball action Tuesday night at Hanna.
Hanna freshman Mia Paz led all scorers with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. Pamela Ellis scored all of her 10 points in the second half and added 14 rebounds to lead the Lady Eagles.
“The girls just played a little better in the second half, the shots started falling,” Hanna coach Luis Gonzalez said. “I told them to be patient. Our defense was there. We held them to 20 points at the half. Offensively I knew we were relying too much on Mia.”
Paz started off the game with back-to-back 3s to give Hanna an early 6-0 lead. Rivera went on a 4-0 run, and later Gisel Hinojosa’s bucket tied the game at 8. Hinojosa gave the Lady Raiders the lead with a pair of free throws and added another layup for a 6-0 run to end the quarter, leaving Rivera up by four after the first quarter.
Rivera scored the first three points of the second quarter and took an eight-point advantage. Hanna went on a 6-0 run fueled by two buckets from Paz and pulled within one bucket. Rivera’s Darcy Cardenas hit a pair of free throws to return the lead to four points at the break.
“We lost the game in the second quarter when our subs didn’t come in and hold (the lead),” Rivera coach Willie Brown said. “We got ourselves in foul trouble and got discombobulated, and that’s just the way it went.”
During the third quarter, Paz hit a 3 to pull within one, but Rivera answered quickly. The Lady Raiders held a five-point lead until Ellis hit a layup to pull within three points. Ellis scored the next four points on a pair of free throws and gave the Lady Eagles a one-point lead after the third.
“We lost our composure, and started throwing the ball away uncharacteristically and missing layups,” Brown said. “You can’t win ballgames when you don’t make layups.”
Darcy Cardenas had a 3 and Hinojosa followed with a layup after a steal for a 5-0 run to give Rivera a four-point lead. Paz answered with a 3, and Ellis added a bucket to give Hanna a 32-31 lead. Rivera took the lead back with a layup by Ulyssa Alvarado, but the Lady Eagles used their defense to spark an 8-0 run to end the game and seal the win.
“Pam is the backbone of our defense. She’s so athletic, she rebounds so much,” Gonzalez said. “She helped us with our points. She was a presence in the paint that really helped. Pam was a big difference-maker in (Tuesday’s) game.”
Hinojosa led the Lady Raiders with 15 points, including eight in the first quarter, Darcy Cardenas added seven points and six steals, and Alvarado had eight rebounds and four steals for Rivera.
Brown thought his team not converting scoring opportunities hurt the Lady Eagles throughout.
“It hurt us the whole game. We didn’t convert the easy shots, and they made their easy shots,” he said. “There is no sense in whining about it now. We have to regroup (today) and go on.”
Cassie Chavez added four points and five rebounds, and Dahlia Reyes had three steals for Hanna.
Gonzalez said ball movement helped his team get better scoring chances during the second half.
“In the second half, we started passing the ball, moving it around, and that was the difference,” he said. “We made that extra pass and attacked the rim. We were more aggressive in the second half.”
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.