FREDDY GONZALEZ | Valley Morning Star
SAN BENITO — After defeating one of the titans of Valley girls basketball in Weslaco High on Tuesday, the San Benito Lady Greyhounds to con-tinue to make a statement by taking down another giant in the district — Harlingen High.
With tonight’s contest providing an early indication of the league’s leaders, San Benito could make another strong statement with a win over their long-time rivals. But, as coach Abel Moreno believes, before you can prepare for the future you have to let go of the past.
“We told them that it doesn’t matter what happened on Tuesday because it will all be for nothing if we can’t make the sweep now,” said San Benito head coach Abel Moreno. “Without the sweep, things are just going to get complicated and let Weslaco back into the fight (district title) and, of course, giving Harlingen some momentum as well. So in order for us to really make a difference we really need to get this one, too.
“We knew that at the beginning of the week, but we really wanted to make sure that we beat Weslaco first and when we did we knew that we need to change it up because their (Harlingen and Weslaco) styles of play are very, very different. But if we don’t win on Friday, Tuesday’s win is for nothing.”
The Harlingen Lady Cardinals come into today’s contest on a four-game win streak tied with Weslaco at 5-1 after defeating Brownsville Hanna 63-39 on Tuesday.
“I did tell them that Friday’s game was a chance to make this a challenging but exciting district where we could have a three-way tie for first,” said Harlingen head coach Ashley Moncivaiz. “But we have to go in there and give a good game because we are going into their house. San Benito is coming out every game and competing really well so we know they are going to be a really good matchup.
“Right now they are playing really well and have good chemistry and you can see a difference from two years ago to now because they are not the same type of team where they depend on just one or two players.