EDINBURG — The Mission High Eagles reeled off their third straight win as they rolled past the Edinburg North Cougars 49-36 in a District 31-6A matchup Friday night.
Down 12-8 after a slow start, the Eagles came into the second quarter looking for a way to ignite their team. That spark came in the form of junior Bailey Hernandez, who came up with five points and four steals in the quarter to give her team a 20-19 lead going into the half.
Hernandez, who ended the game with eight points, proved to be the difference maker as the Eagles went on to outscore the Cougars 29-17 in the second half, including a 15-4 fourth quarter.
“She’s one of our most knowledgeable players,” Eagles head coach Monica Detmer said of Hernandez. “She plays a lot of basketball. She knows the game. She plays hard. She’s one of our leaders. She’s someone we can depend on to score, rebound and defend. She really does a lot for us both on and off the court.”
The Cougars jumped out to an early 10-8 lead behind a stingy press defense that forced the Eagles into committing multiple turnovers early. During the second, the Eagles’ size advantage began to show as they out-rebounded the Cougars 11-5 in the quarter.
Both offenses came to life in a physical, fast-paced third quarter as the teams exchanged baskets. For the Eagles, it was senior Hayley Garza and junior Jiselle Mendoza leading the way as they combined for nine of the team’s 14 points. Zoey Gaytan powered the Cougars’ offense during the third, scoring five straight points for her team in the quarter.
Leading 34-32 going into the fourth, Garza and Mendoza picked up where they left off, combining for another nine points in the quarter to help the Eagles pull away with a 15-4 run to end the game. Garza and Mendoza finished with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Jayli Rivera led the Cougars in scoring with nine points.
“We just woke up in the second half,” Detmer said. “I think they got after us. They were playing hard and we were playing kind of slow. We came out slow and we had a good talk at halftime and got things squared away. We fixed it and started playing harder, getting after loose balls and things like that. We weren’t doing any of that in the first half.”
The Eagles (5-2, 2-0) will look to extend their winning streak when they host the Edinburg High Bobcats at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Cougars (1-4, 1-1), will travel to take on the Edinburg Vela SaberCats at 7 p.m. Tuesday.