MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Despite the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons leading for most of the first half and the opening minutes of the second, the Harlingen South Lady Hawks managed to stay within striking distance.
The Lady Hawks seized the momentum for good during the final minutes of the third as they got to the paint consistently on offense and held Los Fresnos to just six points in the quarter on defense, ultimately leading to a 66-55 victory in the District 32-6A opener Friday afternoon at Harlingen South.
Down by two, the Lady Hawks (1-0 in district) mounted a 9-0 run to end the third quarter and led by as many as 12 points early in the fourth quarter with Karla Reyes and Dolores Mendoza penetrating the painted area at-will.
Harlingen South coach Kelly Garrett said it was her’s team’s defense that fueled the run, as it held Los Fresnos (0-1 in district) to 20 points in the second after giving up 35 in the first.
“I think we had better intensity defensively,” she said. “We got more stops defensively and we went possession by possession, and I said, ‘Let’s get a stop and we’ll work it on offense.’ We were able to attack the basket and get to the foul line and get some shots in. The girls kept the intensity up. We started slow in the beginning of the game, but once we got it going in the second quarter, the third quarter came along and our girls were in their mode.”
Reyes finished with a team-high 23 and Mendoza followed with 16. As a team, the Lady Hawks went 16 of 25 from the line.
“I think if a couple of more shots had fallen and we make a couple of more free throws and (South) makes less shots, it’s a totally different game,” Los Fresnos coach Rebecca Valdez said. “That’s part of the game, I guess. All we can do as a whole is grow and learn from games like this. Hopefully next time around, we have different execution, more focus and little more discipline. I am really happy with the team effort that we saw today overall. I’m excited to keep getting better and try to strive for that district title.”
The Lady Falcons’ offense struggled from the field in the second half, recording just six field goals. Five of those came from Ari Gallardo, who scored a game-high 33 points, including 18 in the first half to lead the Falcons.
“We knew (Gallardo) was going to get her points,” Garrett said. “We knew if we did a better job of shutting down the other girls, we’d have a better shot of winning the game.
Los Fresnos got going early as a pair of 3-point shots from Gallardo and six points from Lorna Camarillo paced the Lady Falcons to a 20-15 lead after one quarter.
Reyes went to work in the second quarter as she attacked the paint, leading to a trio of three-point plays and a 14-point quarter, putting the Lady Hawks on the heels of the Lady Falcons.
The South penetration put Los Fresnos defenders on their toes and got a few players into foul trouble.
“I just think we got stuck in mud and stopped moving our feet,” Valdez said. “I just think we got in mud, stopped moving our feet and tried playing defense with our hands instead of our feet. That’s something we have to fix for the next time around.”
Los Fresnos still took a 35-31 lead into the break as Gallardo scored 11 in the period and went a perfect 4 for 4 at the free-throw line.
In the third, a Reyes bucket tied the game at 41 and a Mendoza score with 2:16 left in the period gave South the lead for good and sparked what would be an 11-0 run.
A Camarillo trey stopped the bleeding for Los Fresnos and produced momentum, but South went on to win the quarter 18-14 and wrap up the game.