BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
CORPUS CHRISTI — McAllen Memorial stood tall over every other girls basketball team in the Valley during the regular season.
The Mustangs were picked as RGVSports.com’s No. 1 team in the preseason and they lived up to the ranking all year. Twenty-nine regular season wins and another outright district title were nice, but they weren’t exactly what the Mustangs were looking to get out of this year.
When practice began in October, the Mustangs placed their focus squarely on winning in the playoffs. After four consecutive losses in the first round, the 2018-19 Mustangs were built to break through to the area round or further.
McAllen Memorial appeared as if it was on its way to a celebration and collective sigh of relief through three quarters, but everything came apart in the final period against Laredo United South. The Panthers exploded for a 29-point fourth quarter to slide past the Mustangs 62-58 Tuesday night on the Corpus Christi Veterans campus.
“We got into foul trouble,” McAllen Memorial coach Clarisse Arredondo said. “We missed on defensive assignments, leaving girls wide open. They (Laredo United South) got hot from the 3-point line. They just wanted it more.”
McAllen Memorial breezed through the new-look District 30-6A, winning all 14 matchups by an astounding average of 51.5 points per game. The Mustangs didn’t dominate every aspect of the game Tuesday, but they hit enough jump shots to keep the Panthers at arms-length.
McAllen Memorial jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to 3-pointers by the sister tandem of senior Tani and sophomore Cori Talamantez. The Mustangs felt good about where they stood going into the fourth quarter, leading by eight.
Fouls became an issue for McAllen Memorial (29-5) early in the fourth. Memorial’s top scorers on the season, Tani Talamantez and Valeria Garcia, each committed their fourth personal foul within the first 40 seconds of the period.
“I know a lot of the girls look up to us,” Tani Talamantez said of herself and Garcia. “When we get in foul trouble, everyone else thinks they’re in foul trouble, too. Valeria and I had to play softer defense, but the rest of the team played softer defense when they didn’t have to. We held on to the very end, until we both fouled out.”
As the Panthers (23-14) crept closer to the Mustangs, Tani Talamantez hit big shot after big shot to keep McAllen Memorial ahead. Laredo United South took its first lead of the second half on a 3-pointer with under three and a half minutes to play.
Tani Talamantez pulled her team within 59-58 when she banked in a 3-pointer with 37.8 seconds to go, but Laredo United South responded with a nail in the coffin on its next possession.
Panther freshman center Millie Hernandez nailed a 3-pointer in the corner with 20 seconds to go, sealing the Mustangs’ fate for the fifth season in a row. Laredo United South is now responsible for knocking the Mustangs out of the first round for the third time in the past five years.
“They’re the best team I’ve ever had here,” Arredondo said. “We’re going to lose a good group of hard-working kids. I’m proud of them regardless. The game of basketball teaches us life skills. It prepares us for the real world. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Nothing’s perfect in life.”
Talamantez is one of Arredondo’s departing seniors. She ended her career with a gutsy 28-point outing.
“I don’t know if I’m going to play (college basketball) or not, so I’m going to miss the heck out of playing basketball and wearing this jersey,” Talamantez said. “I’ll come watch my sister, Cori, play and reminisce about the times I was out there. Not wearing the Mustang jersey anymore is going to be hard. I’m going to miss it.”