BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
WESLACO — On Jan. 9, San Benito needed a fourth-quarter run and Mikayla Garcia’s 3-pointer to stun Weslaco High in their first meeting of the season. The two teams’ second matchup on Friday concluded in similar fashion.
Down eight with 2:05 to play in regulation, the Greyhounds (24-10) ended the game on a 16-4 run to beat the Panthers 49-45 in overtime.
“The most important thing for us was to stay positive,” San Benito coach Abel Moreno said. “We had to keep fighting. At the end of the day, whether we win or lose, we had to give it all we had. They came out to play all night long. They deserved to win.”
In the middle of San Benito’s flurry, the Greyhounds had possession of the ball with the game tied at 41 and 27.9 seconds remaining. As the clock ticked down under five seconds, the Greyhounds lost the ball, inciting a scrum of players fighting for possession.
When the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the fourth quarter, a foul was called on Weslaco guard Briana Peña. San Benito was set to go to the free-throw line, since Weslaco had committed more than seven team fouls. After initially sending the Greyhounds to the line, the referees decided to count the foul against Peña but not award free-throw attempts for San Benito, sending the game to a four-minute overtime period.
“They (the referees) were saying the clock went out,” Moreno said. “The clock didn’t go out, but that’s OK. They called what they called, and we moved on with it.”
“They needed to figure out if the foul happened before or after the buzzer went off,” Weslaco High coach Griselda Fino said. “Because they were confused, my suggestion was to let the kids play it out.”
In overtime, San Benito junior Haley Lopez continued her hot shooting, nailing a 3-pointer to stretch the Greyhounds’ lead to five. She finished with nine points, all on 3-pointers. Lopez’s first two 3s helped the Greyhounds tie the game and force extra time.
“The fact that they can drive the ball and shoot the 3-point shot effectively gave us problems,” Fino said. “For a while, I thought we did a good job containing their drive. We didn’t take care of the ball, and they did. We couldn’t convert, and we couldn’t respond.”
Junior Illiyah Cantu was one of the bright spots for Weslaco (29-7). She was the game’s top scorer with 19 points.
“We were more scared to shoot in the fourth quarter and overtime,” Cantu said. “We weren’t as strong the whole fourth quarter. We tried our best. We hustled. We did everything we could. At the end, you can’t do much if it’s the scoreboard that you’re reading and it’s them winning and not us.”
The Panthers will end their regular season Tuesday with a trip to Los Fresnos, a team that already clinched the final playoff spot in District 32-6A. Los Fresnos defeated San Benito last month.
“We’ll recover from this,” Cantu said. “It’s more of us carrying the weight of being underdogs in our next game. If anything, it’ll make us stronger.”
San Benito’s win over Weslaco and Harlingen High’s 60-51 win against Brownsville Hanna on Friday creates a logjam atop District 32-6A. The Greyhounds, Panthers and Cardinals are all 11-2 in district play and locked in a three-way tie for first place.
San Benito will visit Harlingen High on Tuesday night.
“We dropped a close game with Harlingen the first time,” Moreno said. “We feel like we compete with them, just like we have against Weslaco. It’s going to be a great night.”