By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Porter Cowgirls led at halftime, but cold shooting during the second half let one slip away in a 38-34 District 32-5A loss to the PSJA Southwest Lady Javelinas on Friday at Porter.
Sabrina Garcia led the way with 12 points, a pair of rebounds and eight steals, but Porter failed to match the offensive output by the Lady Javelinas after halftime.
“I think we just went cold. We missed a lot of easy layups. We can’t be doing that,” Porter coach Tony Saavedra said. “The type of team we are, we can’t be missing easy shots. We missed four consecutive free throws and the outcome (of the game) was four, we just can’t do that.”
Led by Garcia, the Cowgirls took a 23-19 advantage at the break. But PSJA Southwest came out more aggressive and held Porter scoreless during the third quarter, taking a 26-23 advantage into the final quarter. The Lady Javelinas used a stall tactic for better than two minutes in the third, and it helped shift momentum.
“We were chasing too much and playing them up high too much,” PSJA Southwest coach Milton Galloso said. “We were having trouble against the zone, and when we went man-to-man we were getting through. Against their zone was tough, and we wanted to pull them out and they stayed in.”
Porter stayed in a 2-3 zone but didn’t attack PSJA Southwest’s spread-out offense until late in the third, forcing the Lady Javelinas to start moving the ball again.
The Cowgirls responded with their own offensive outburst during the fourth quarter, getting within three points after a basket by Krista Quiroz. But the Lady Javelinas responded with a pair of free throws by Marillee Medellin and added another basket down the stretch to push back against any Porter rally.
PSJA Southwest limited Garcia to just two points during the second half.
After Jennica De Leon hit a 3-pointer during the last minute, Porter had several opportunities to close the gap, but nothing dropped as the Cowgirls lost a close game in district play.
“(We had to) limit No. 23 (Garcia), that’s their most dangerous player. Our girls did a good job on her,” Galloso said. “Our girls stayed with them. We’ve played other tough teams, but (the team) just stepped it up in the second half.”
Quiroz finished with six points and seven rebounds, Marquel Rivera had six points and a pair of steals and Daniella D’campo added a 3-pointer and six rebounds for the Cowgirls.
Daniela Hernandez led the way with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five steals for the Lady Javelinas, and Medellin had 13 points — including 6 of 6 shooting from the foul line — five rebounds and three steals.
With a limited bench, Saavedra thought the game came down to endurance.
“I think we need to get better conditioned, we don’t have our legs,” he said. “The girls were tired (late in the game). We only have seven players, and that really hurt us. I think once we get our full team, hopefully it will be a different outcome.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.