BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
HIDALGO — Rio Hondo has proven itself as the top team in District 32-4A primed to take down Hidalgo this season.
After going into halftime trailing, the Pirates needed a strong second half to hold off the Bobcats in their first district meeting on Dec. 18.
The only deficit Hidalgo had Tuesday is when Rio Hondo guard Estrella Garza scored the first two-point basket of the game. Pirates forward Barbie Gutierrez countered with a 3-pointer on the team’s second offensive possession and never trailed again. Hidalgo downed Rio Hondo 52-29 Tuesday in Hidalgo.
The Pirates’ biggest obstacle was in the middle: Rio Hondo senior forward Taylor Gomez, who finished with 16 points.
“Taylor is a hell of a player,” Hidalgo coach Saul Arjona said. “We tried to contain her with Barbie (Gutierrez) at first, but Barbie was a little too small for her. So then we put (forward) Mel(anie Salinas). She did a better job, but Taylor’s Taylor. She’s going to get her points.”
Hidalgo prides itself on ratcheting up the tempo on opponents, forcing turnovers that lead to easy baskets on the other end of the floor, but it wasn’t able to play its game early on.
The Pirates (30-4, 10-0 in District 32-4A) opened up a 17-point lead in the second quarter. The Bobcats (21-11, 8-2) benefited from the halftime break to gather themselves and slice their deficit to nine points entering the final period.
“I told the girls that we needed to continue running,” Arjona said. “Eventually, they’re going to get tired. That’s what I saw early in the fourth quarter. They couldn’t keep up with us. Sometimes the girls wanted to set up plays, but I said, ‘No no no no. Keep pushing and distribute the ball.’”
Gutierrez was matched up against Gomez on both sides of the ball early in Tuesday’s game. Gutierrez led all scorers in the gym with 20, but she had to work for every bucket against Gomez.
“She’s really talented. She blocked most of my shots the last time and I don’t remember if I scored in double-digits the last time (Gutierrez scored 10 on Dec. 18),” Gutierrez said. “I had to pump fake her if we don’t do anything else to get her out of the way. I had been working on my post moves in practice because we knew it would be tough against both of their forwards.”
Hidalgo’s top two scorers, Gutierrez and point guard Savannah Sanchez, had been dealing with different ailments going in to Tuesday’s game. Arjona said Sanchez was in a walking boot, which limited her mobility some in the early going. Sanchez scored seven, five fewer than her average of 12.0 per game.
Gutierrez is trying to get over a cold that almost caused her to miss practice on Monday.
“When you play with a cold, you can’t dwell on it,” Gutierrez said. “We’re not going to lose it and just give it up. We’re going to keep working. If we lost tonight, we would have been tied for first place in the district and we might have had to face them again in a tiebreaker. I’m just glad we got the win.”
Hidalgo defeating Rio Hondo gives the Pirates their 30th win of the season. The Pirates were one of two 30-win teams last season, but they didn’t reach the landmark until the postseason.
Hidalgo has four district games left on the schedule.
“I haven’t paid attention to how many wins we have,” Arjona said. “My main concern has been on the playoffs and advancing when we get there. I’m glad we have won 30 so far. We did it last year because it shows that our program has been winning consistently, but all I really care about is advancing.”