BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
EDINBURG — The Edinburg High Bobcats, a team that spent much of the season ranked first in RGVSports.com’s weekly top 10, did very little to change their status as one of, if not the, Valley’s best during district play.
The Bobcats came into their home finale against PSJA North at 13-0 while the Raiders entered 12-1, hungry for a shot at a shared district championship.
But Edinburg (30-8) was too much for its opponents to handle. The Bobcats wrapped up district play 14-0 with a 30-win regular season, downing the Raiders 56-33 on Tuesday night.
“Hearing all the accomplishments that we’ve achieved sounds so surreal,” Edinburg High guard Mercedes Hernandez said. “But I feel like it hasn’t hit a lot of us yet. We’re hungry. Yeah, we achieved this, but what’s next?”
The Bobcats have now won three district titles in the six seasons J.D. Salinas has led the program.
“We couldn’t ask for more,” Salinas said. “When I first took over, that’s when (Edinburg) Vela opened, so we lost a lot of kids. To win three out of six years is not too bad. It’s a tribute to our girls. They bought into the system. It takes a lot of work to get here.”
PSJA North (30-5) started the game on a 9-0 run, causing Salinas to call timeout and regroup.
“I thought our defense was a little slow,” Salinas said. “We weren’t being aggressive, getting after loose balls and jumping into passing lanes. We also weren’t attacking offensively the way that we’re used to.”
After the timeout, Edinburg rolled off 14 points in a row.
“They went back to their size,” PSJA North coach Randy Bocanegra said. “They started penetrating the baseline and dishing it to their big girl (Brianna Sanchez). We had a tough time containing it.”
The Raiders connected on six 3-pointers in the first half to stay within five of the Bobcats going into halftime. After halftime, however, PSJA North scuffled offensively. The Raiders scored a combined nine points in the final two quarters.
“We just ran cold,” Bocanegra said. “You can’t score points if you don’t shoot well.”
“The reason they hit all those 3s was because we didn’t close out on their shooters,” Salinas said. “We attacked, and we were going to make them put it on the floor. That’s what good teams do.”
In the Bobcats’ and Raiders’ previous district meeting on Jan. 12, EHS forward Jayla Santa Maria reached the 2,000-point plateau for her career thanks to a 36-point performance in a blowout win.
Santa Maria didn’t register her first two points until the 6:01 mark of the third quarter, but her sister Jenessah Santa Maria and Hernandez picked up the slack for the Bobcats.
Jenessah finished with a game-high 15 points.
“If one of our top shooters is down, there’s always another starter or bench player stepping up,” Jenessah said. “That’s when it means the most, when the top player isn’t having a good day.”
Hernandez followed Jenessah with 13 points to pace the Bobcats.
“They (Jenessah Santa Maria and Mercedes Hernandez) played extremely well,” Salinas said. “I’m extremely happy for those kids to be able to respond like that when Jayla’s being locked down.”
PSJA North will face Harlingen High in the bi-district round, while Edinburg has a date with Los Fresnos. Details have yet to be determined.
The Bobcats have dropped their bi-district matchups in each of the last three years.
“(District) 32-6A’s a tough district,” Hernandez said. “If you’re in that district, you’re never comfortable. We’re not going to underestimate our opponent. If they’re San Antonio Clark or Weslaco, we’re going to treat them like the great teams that they are. On any day, any team can show up and play great basketball against a great team.”