BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
ALAMO — Because competition in District 31-6A tipped off three days later than many other leagues, PSJA North coach Randy Bocanegra reminded the Raiders throughout the week about how their district opener went last season — a 38-34 home loss to PSJA Memorial.
“We knew we had to come out fast, because we’ve been on the road for most of this season,” Bocanegra said. “We had redemption on our minds based on what happened last year, so we didn’t want to be caught asleep. That was going to be crucial for us.”
The Raiders (19-3, 1-0) scored the game’s first basket and never trailed in a 47-41 win against the Wolverines at PSJA Memorial on Friday.
PSJA North guard Melly Palacios scored 12 of the Raiders’ 16 first-quarter points.
“We had a rough start last year, losing to PSJA Memorial in our opener,” Palacios said. “Every practice we’ve had this week reminded us that we had to win this game in order to have a great season. We accomplished one of our season-long goals tonight.”
Palacios finished the night with a game-high 28 points, including all 10 of North’s points in the fourth quarter.
“We told her that she needed to come out big and play big,” Bocanegra said. “They (Memorial) were in foul trouble early in the second half, so we told the girls to attack the basket even though our strength is to shoot it from the outside.”
Junior forward Alexia Neal exhibited crisp post moves with a turnaround jumper and strong finishes in the paint on her way to 12 points.
“Those moves are a credit to her,” Bocanegra said. “She’s been working on them in our individual part of practice. We’re going to focus on that some more.”
The Wolverines (12-12, 0-1) stayed within striking distance of the Raiders, but six team fouls in the third quarter helped keep Memorial from applying full pressure to North.
“A lot of it was nerves with our kids,” PSJA Memorial coach Marissa Gutierrez said. “We started off the game extremely nervous. Even in the pregame warmup, our kids were out of sync. But that’s not an excuse. PSJA North showed up, and we didn’t. We tried to play the big game inside, and we couldn’t get that done. The fouls didn’t help us, either.”
After leaping on a rebound attempt, PSJA Memorial senior starting forward Victoria Hernandez banged the back of her head on the court at the 3:57 mark of the second quarter. She was helped to the bench but did not return to action. Hernandez finished with four points.
“We’ll probably follow the concussion protocol with her,” Gutierrez said. “She’s a big part of this team, and not having her hurt us. We’re already short at guard with one of our starters (Violet Torres) being out for several weeks now. It’s hard having to replace that.”