BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
RIO GRANDE CITY — Mission Veterans’ and Rio Grande City’s first district game after Christmas was a matchup between two of the best forwards not only in District 31-5A, but the entire Valley.
The Rattlers have senior Jocy Amaya, an All-Area first team forward in 2016-17 with more than 2,000 points for her career, while the Patriots present junior Jackie Howell, an All-Area second team talent from a season ago.
Howell and the Patriots took round one, as Mission Veterans earned a 36-25 road victory on Friday afternoon.
“We had two really good practices before today’s game, so we knew we had to be ready to be a little sluggish coming from the holiday,” Howell said.
“Any road victory is huge,” Mission Veterans coach Rafael Cantu Jr. said. “If you can steal one on the road, it helps you that much more, especially against a tough team like Rio (Grande City). They’re tough, physical and aggressive.”
Howell scored a game-high 18 points.
“Jocy’s a real good post, so I knew I had to play her hard,” Howell said. “She’s a threat from the outside, too, when she has her shot going for her. When you come into a game knowing you’re going to be guarding each other and trying to score on each other, you have to give extra effort and hope your teammates step up tonight. And they did.”
Amaya didn’t net her first field goal until the 6:30 mark of the second quarter. However, with help from a 10-point third quarter, she finished with 16 points.
“She’s the main post player that they look for,” Amaya said of Howell. “I’ve watched some of their film from games, and I saw that most of her points came from under the basket. My goal was to stop her from getting too low. I thought I did pretty well (guarding her), even though I did get some fouls.”
A team that typically gets rolling when outside shots are falling, the Patriots (16-11) continued to struggle from the perimeter. A first-quarter 3-pointer by senior Gaby Gallardo was the only make on 11 attempts.
“We didn’t shoot it well, but I guess we can kind of expect that after a long break,” Cantu said. “We talked about it with the players that if the shooting’s not there, our defense has to be solid. Good defense always gives us a chance to win, and I believe defense won the game for us.”
The Rattlers (17-10) came into the game in a second-place tie with the Patriots in the District 31-5A standings but now sit in third place at 4-2 after Friday’s loss.
“You play to win every game,” Rio Grande City coach Gustavo Valenciana said. “Teams like (Laredo) Nixon and Mission Vets are tough. Even though we have two losses in a row, we still have a shot at finishing 6-2 after the first round of district play. I think we can be OK and at least try to get into the playoffs.”