BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Jayla Santa Maria wasn’t supposed to be on the court, but her coach gave her the benefit of the doubt.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Santa Maria and her Edinburg High teammates held a three-point lead over inner-city rival Edinburg North. Santa Maria, a sophomore, had four fouls and just two made field goals. But coach John David Salinas hoped his best player would avoid contact and remain in Friday’s game at Edinburg High..
Forty-eight seconds later, his wishful thinking was betrayed. Santa Maria fouled out on an attempted takeaway. However, even though Santa Maria watched from the sideline, the Lady Bobcats held on for a 44-35 victory, completing a furious second-half rally to notch their first District 31-6A victory on the season.
“The other girls did a heck of a job to keep the game close,” Salinas said. “That’s what we kept telling the girls during the early part of the game. They just had to keep the game close and get out of the first half and hope we were still within 10 points.”
Although EHS never trailed by double digits, staying within that margin was an arduous task during the first half. Thanks to sharp shooting from North’s Klarissa Lopez and lackluster defense, the Lady Bobcats faced a 17-9 deficit after the first quarter.
The early going was where Santa Maria became familiar with the whistle, as she was called for three fouls during the opening period. For much of Santa Maria’s time on the bench, the Lady Bobcats (20-7, 1-1) relied on post play from senior Jennifer Galvan (10 points, 12 rebounds) and junior Natalie Roxburgh (8 points, 5 rebounds).
“We were just running down the floor,” Galvan said. “We weren’t really running a lot of set plays because so many of our plays are for Jayla. But when she was on the bench, we just had to run the floor as much as we could, get transition layups and play defense.”
Despite playing what Salinas said was the worst half of basketball Edinburg has played this season, the team trailed the Lady Cougars by a 29-25 margin at halftime.
During the second half, however, Edinburg turned a two-possession deficit into a defensive-oriented rout. In the last two quarters, the Lady Bobcats outscored North 20-6 — collecting steals and scoring on second-chance opportunities along the way. Only two of the Lady Cougars (14-12, 0-3) points came away from the foul line.
“We just got away from what were doing at the beginning,” North coach Jenny Rae Garcia said. “We stopped penetrating and attacking, and we stopped rebounding the ball.”
Santa Maria pulled her team within one point with a layup late in the third quarter. Little sister Jenessah followed with a transition bucket to give Edinburg a 32-31 lead that would only increase. Though Jenessah scored just six points, she made half of her shot attempts and provided her team with quality guard play when called upon to do so.
“I knew she was going to be great for us this season,” Jayla said. “She’s done great for us playing at a quick pace and handling the pressure.”
BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE
STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Jayla Santa Maria wasn’t supposed to be on the court, but her coach gave her the benefit of the doubt.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Santa Maria and her Edinburg High teammates held a three-point lead over inner-city rival Edinburg North. Santa Maria, a sophomore, had four fouls and just two made field goals. But coach John David Salinas hoped his best player would avoid contact and remain in the game.
Forty-eight seconds later, his wishful thinking was betrayed. Santa Maria fouled out on an attempted takeaway. However, even though Santa Maria watched from the sideline, the Lady Bobcats held on for a 44-35 victory, completing a furious second-half rally to notch their first District 31-6A victory on the season.
“The other girls did a heck of a job to keep the game close,” Salinas said. “That’s what we kept telling the girls during the early part of the game. They just had to keep the game close and get out of the first half and hope we were still within 10 points.”
Although EHS never trailed by double digits, staying within that margin was an arduous task during the first half. Thanks to sharp shooting from North’s Klarissa Lopez and lackluster defense, the Lady Bobcats faced a 17-9 deficit after the first quarter.
The earlygoing was where Santa Maria became familiar with the whistle, as she was called for three fouls during the opening period. For much Santa Maria’s time on the bench, the Lady Bobcats (20-7, 1-1) relied on post play from senior Jennifer Galvan (10 points, 12 rebounds) and junior Natalie Roxburgh (8 points, 5 rebounds).
“We were just running down the floor,” Galvan said. “We weren’t really running a lot of set plays because so many of our plays are for Jayla. But when she was on the bench, we just had to run the floor as much as we could, get transition layups and play defense.”
Despite playing what Salinas said was the worst half of basketball Edinburg has played this season, the team trailed the Lady Cougars by a 29-25 margin at halftime.
During the second half, however, Edinburg turned a two-point deficit into a defensive-oriented rout. In the last two quarters, the Lady Bobcats outscored North 20-6 — collecting steals and scoring on second-chance opportunities along the way. Only two of the Lady Cougars (14-12, 0-3) points came away from the foul line.
“We just got away from what were doing at the beginning,” North coach Jenny Rae Garcia said. “We stopped penetrating and attacking, and we stopped rebounding the ball.”
Santa Maria pulled her team within one point with a layup late in the third quarter. Little sister Jenessah followed with a transition bucket to give Edinburg a 32-31 lead that would only increase. Though Jenessah scored just six points, she made half of her shot attempts and provided her team with quality guard play when called upon to do so.
“I knew she was going to be great for us this season,” Jayla said. “She’s done great for us playing at a quick pace and handling the pressure.”
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