By ANDREW CRUM | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
RIO GRANDE CITY — Brownsville Veterans Memorial senior Hannah Meyers wasn’t about to let her high school career finish against Cigarroa (Laredo).
Meyers scored a game-high 16 points — all in the first half — and set the tone for the Lady Chargers in a 46-25 victory over the Lady Toros in a Class 5A bi-district girls basketball game Tuesday at Ringgold Middle School.
“I knew we had to come out hard, it was all or nothing,” Meyers said. “I knew I had to come out and work hard on defense and offense … we had to play as a team. I asked everyone last night if they were ready to come out and play … everyone said we’re coming out to win.”
The senior forward added eight rebounds and three steals and was the spark for Brownsville Veterans (28-13), who used a couple runs in the first half to go in front for good. Cigarroa (17-20) struggled on the offensive end and couldn’t get much going to match the offensive output of the Lady Chargers, which advances to the area round for the fifth straight season.
“I told Hannah to be relentless, it starts with you,” Brownsville Veterans coach Valentin Paz said. “Be relentless on the offense end and defense, set the tone.
“If you set the tone, everybody else will follow.”
From the opening quarter, Meyers was on a mission. After an Alyssa Esquivel putback, Meyers hit a free throw and added a bucket as Brownsville Veterans went on a 5-0 run. Victoria Villanueva hit a 3-pointer to stop the run for the Lady Toros, but the Lady Chargers’ Julia Alvarez answered with a 3 to make it 8-3.
Villanueva hit a jumper to get the deficit within two points, but Meyers answered with a layup and finished with five points in the quarter as Brownsville Veterans led 10-6.
Villanueva got Cigarroa within one on a 3 to open the second quarter, but Lizzie Garza hit a free throw for the Lady Chargers to keep the edge at two. Angelina Mosqueda hit a 3 to give the Lady Toros a 12-11 lead, but Meyers went to work. She scored eight straight points and 11 of the teams 13-0 run to finish the half and give Brownsville Veterans a 24-12 advantage at the break.
“I told you the difference (in this game) was going to be defense,” Paz said. “Our goal is always 12-plus (on offense) and eight or less (on defense) in every quarter. We held them to 12 (points) in the first half, six and six. I told (the girls) if we do the same thing in the second half we’ll win. It was defense … we were able to turn them over and get out and run.”
With that first half momentum, the Lady Chargers kept it going in the second half. After Lori De Leon and Alexa Reyes got buckets to get Cigarroa within eight, Esquivel had a putback to push the Lady Chargers lead back to 10. Brownsville Veterans added a jumper by Valeria Amaro and a 3 by Destiny Contreras and extended the lead to 31-17 after three.
“We played very uncharacteristic of this team,” Cigarroa coach Mary Encinas said. “We didn’t execute, all the things we worked on and were prepared for … we didn’t execute.”
The Lady Chargers started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run, fueled by another 3 by Contreras and a scoring binge by Garza that pushed the lead to 41-17. The Lady Toros got some free throws down the stretch, but Brownsville Veterans answered with points in transition off turnovers and the lead never fell below 20.
Villanueva finished with eight points and seven rebounds and Lari Cantu added eight points, five rebounds and three steals for Cigarroa.
After winning a district title and advancing three rounds last season, the Lady Toros lost several seniors. That inexperience showed in the bi-district game against Brownsville Veterans, but Encinas knows her team will be back.
“This year we only graduate two seniors, so we have a young group,” she said. “I think this was a great experience for our younger kids and it’s going to help them and we’ll grow from it.”
Garza finished with 10 points, including nine in the second half, eight rebounds and two steals and Contreras finished with six points on a pair of 3-pointers for the Lady Chargers.
Brownsville Veterans moves on to the area round, but it hasn’t been kind to Paz and his team during the last four years. The Lady Chargers coach knows that it’s going to be just as tough this season as it has in the past.
“We’ll take one possession at a time,” he said. “Work hard (in practice) and try to get ready.”
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.