NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — For the first few minutes of its District 31-5A season, Mission Veterans was hindered by missed opportunities, shots off target and a slow start. The beginning almost cost the Patriots in their district opener against Rio Grande City. Strong defense kept them afloat.
Junior Kaylee Flores and her supporting cast put up enough offense for the Patriots to hold off the Rattlers for a 53-42 win.
Mission Veterans improves to 14-9 overall and 1-0 in the district, consequently, Rio drops to 0-1 with a 16-7 overall record.
Vets was unable to pull away after taking a five-point lead early. Instead, RGC responded and kept the score close through one quarter.
Rio was aided early by a sweet stroke from Roxy Morales who kept her team in the game. The sharpshooting guard had five first-half 3-pointers. She had 21 points at the break. The Patriots’ defense was able to limit the visitors in transition and accumulate a handful of steals.
Veterans’ defense was too much for the Rattlers to have enough opportunity to set up their half-court offense. Countless Rio possessions were cut short in transition by steals that sparked the Patriots.
After RGC took a 14-11 lead in the first quarter, the Patriots woke up.
Flores was the offensive beneficiary during a 16-0 run that put Vets up 27-14. Flores made catch-and-shoot jumpers as well as skilled fast-break moves and three-point plays to get the fans into the action during an impressive first half.
“We started communicating more, we started playing good defense,” Flores said. “We started working more as a team, that pretty much put everything together.”
The home Patriots were a defensive machine by committee. Jackie Howell and Lily Gonzalez were both valuable low-post presences, while Kelly Garcia was able to maintain the interior advantage off the bench. Vets was lifted not just by rebounds, but also multiple blocks from Howell and Gonzalez.
Point guard Ronnie Cantu was a ball hawk for Veterans, jumping high to pick off stray, lackadaisical outlet passes.
Following the Vets run, Rio responded with a 10-0 run of their own. Three more 3-pointers from Morales contributed to her 16-point second frame.
The bench boss for Veterans still noticed areas his team could improve in.
“You have to play with intensity, you have to play with that hop in your step,” Mission Veterans coach Rafael Cantu said.” Especially a team like us that’s small, you have to be moving, you have to be active. We did that in spurts tonight. We need to work on being a little bit more consistent. I told the girls when we go on a run like that, we need to keep our foot on the pedal as much as we can.”
Flores, who had four points in the second half, explained why her team needs to play the same way all game.
“That determines how we’re going to finish, and we have to be consistent in it,” Flores said. “If not, we’ll just slack off and fall behind. That’s when we lose our momentum. We can’t allow a lot of runs like that.”
Veterans was able to defend its way to a strong win, first by turning turnovers into offense, then by quietly holding Rio Grande City off late. Morales didn’t have a field goal or point in the second half.
“When they’re inside, the shots are a little easier and when you’re outside they’re harder,” Patriots forward Lily Gonzalez said. “If we (make them) shoot from the outside we’ll get more rebounds and quick passes and layups.”
Rio also tripped over its own feet and hurt its chances at a comeback. On numerous occasions, passes over the head of an intended target in the half-court offense resulted in wasted possessions for the guests.
Howell had 11 points, including put-backs on her own shots and Cantu had eight to help the team stay away from their challengers.
Gonzalez also said the 1-0 district start helps send a message to the rest of the district.
“A strong start intimidates teams,” Gonzalez said.