By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
The Brownsville Rivera Lady Raiders were handed a tough stretch to open their District 32-6A season.
They kicked things off against defending champion Harlingen High, then faced two more consistently strong programs in Weslaco High and Los Fresnos. The hard road sharpened the sword, and the battle-tested Lady Raiders overcame an early deficit to defeat Brownsville Hanna 48-26, picking up their first district win since 2018.
“It feels great, honestly it feels awesome. We haven’t won a district game in I don’t know how long, but it’s been a while,” Rivera coach Omar Leal said. “The first three games, we had Harlingen, Weslaco and Los Fresnos, and it prepared us for Hanna. All their hard work, coming in at 6 in the morning, it paid off today. We had a lot of flaws, we weren’t great and there’s things to fix, but we got the ‘W.’”
The Lady Eagles jumped out on top thanks to the play of Sofia Roman, Marie Neme and Yazmin Rucoba. Neme used her size to overpower everyone inside the paint and pulled down a plethora of rebounds. Rucoba thrived as the Lady Eagles controlled the boards and fed her with long passes for layups, and she contributed six points to Hanna’s 12-10 lead after the first quarter.
Caitlin Cardenas and Alondra Guzman led Rivera’s defensive effort, which slowed Hanna. The Lady Raiders notched steals and intercepted passes that turned into fastbreak opportunities, and they tied the game at 14 two minutes into the second quarter as Emily Morales forced a turnover then cashed it in on a drive to the basket.
Both teams endured a scoring drought through the middle third of the second quarter that was ended by Guzman recording a steal and finishing her shot through contact to give Rivera a 16-14 lead that it never relinquished. Rivera closed the quarter strong to hold a 22-18 advantage at halftime. Kenya Ibarra and Alondra Garza battled hard in the paint against Hanna’s bigger posts, bringing down rebounds and keeping the Lady Eagles off the board.
“I know their posts are taller than ours, so our game plan was to make sure we’re boxing out and doing the fundamentals. They came out and executed, and it showed on the scoreboard,” Leal said. “Alondra Guzman’s our team captain. Every night she steps on the court she just brings it. She brings a lot of experience and heart.”
The third quarter was a low-scoring affair in which Rivera opened its lead to 31-24. Hanna’s Alexis Alvarez hit the only 3-pointer of the game to cut Rivera’s lead to three early in the quarter, but a bevy of missed shots throughout the second half tanked the offensive production and gave Rivera opportunities that it took full advantage of.
The Lady Raiders dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring Hanna 17-2 to secure a long-awaited district win. Though small in stature, freshman Samantha Esquibel scored seven points in the quarter and pestered the Lady Eagles with “her quickness and defensive skills,” drawing large cheers from her teammates, coaches and the fans in attendance.
Guzman led all scorers with 15 points and was 5-for-7 from the free-throw line. Ibarra and Garza contributed eight and six points, respectively, for Rivera.
Rucoba was Hanna’s top offensive producer with 10 points, and Roman added four. The Lady Eagles were 5-for-20 from the charity stripe, which reflects the shooting troubles they faced throughout the contest despite having consistent opportunities.
“We’ve struggled all season with our shooting, and in the second half we couldn’t buy a bucket,” Hanna coach Luis Gonzalez said. “The basketball gods weren’t on our side today, no doubt about that. We tried everything and nothing worked, but hat’s off to Rivera, they did a hell of a job defending us today. Defensively, the girls played hard and they’re aggressive. We rebound the ball well, we have good height, but the one thing that’s hurt us throughout the season is our shooting. The only thing we can do is continue working on that, and we’ll be all right.”