By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
The UIL girls basketball regular season is quickly coming to a close, and the start of the playoffs is days away.
Postseason seeding and all bi-district round matchups will be finalized by the district certification deadline Tuesday. But several playoff-bound East Valley squads have clinched district titles or playoff berths and know what’s coming when the first round starts Thursday.
The Harlingen High Lady Cardinals secured their third straight District 32-6A championship Jan. 29. They’re ranked No. 16 in Class 6A by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches and No. 19 by the Texas Girls Coaches Association. Harlingen High will face Edinburg Vela on the road at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Harlingen South Lady Hawks defeated the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons on Friday night to clinch the No. 3 seed in District 32-6A. Harlingen South will face PSJA North in the bi-district round, location and time details pending. Los Fresnos, the No. 4 seed, will travel to Edinburg High at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial is the District 32-5A champion. The Lady Chargers are ranked No. 16 in Class 5A by the TABC and No. 23 by the TGCA. BVM will face McAllen High on the road at 7 p.m. Friday. The Brownsville Pace Lady Vikings defeated Weslaco East 35-32 on Friday to secure the No. 4 seed in District 32-5A. They’ll play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Sharyland Pioneer.
The Rio Hondo Lady Bobcats beat Hidalgo 78-21 on Friday to finish the regular season 15-0 and are the District 32-4A champions with a 10-0 record. Rio Hondo is ranked No. 10 in Class 4A by the TGCA and will play at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at home against Alice. La Feria defeated Port Isabel 63-33 on Friday to secure the No. 2 seed in 32-4A, playoff details pending. Port Isabel is the district’s No. 3 seed and will face Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Kingsville King.
The TABC No. 19/TGCA No. 22 Lyford Lady Bulldogs are the undefeated District 31-3A champions and will have a first-round bye due to District 32-3A only having three teams that finished the season. District 32-3A champion Brownsville IDEA Frontier will play host to IDEA Pharr at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Brownsville IDEA Riverview is the 32-3A No. 2 seed and will face Weslaco IDEA Pike. Santa Rosa, the No. 3 seed in 32-3A, will play Donna IDEA.
The Santa Maria Lady Cougars won’t have their game details finalized until Monday at the earliest, but they’re locked in as the District 32-2A No. 3 seed and will play Port Aransas. San Perlita also finished third in District 32-1A and will face D’Hanis at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Orange Grove.