HENRY MILLER | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
McALLEN – Coach Stephanie Cantu had a good reason to put freshman Natasha Butters on the McAllen High varsity girls basketball team.
The girl, obviously, can score.
In her debut, Butters netted 13 points, 11 in the first half, but quickly became the focus of a tough Brownsville Veterans man-to-man defense as the Chargers claimed a 61-53 victory over the Bulldogs on Tuesday in the season opener for both squads.
Butters, a slashing guard/forward for McHi, scored nine of her points in a 3-minute span during the second quarter as McHi pulled out to a 25-17 lead with 3:58 remaining in the half. Her final points came after a steal and a slashing move to the basket, where she hit the layup and a free throw for a 3-point play.
“She’s obviously up here on varsity for a reason. We saw that today,” said Cantu, in her second year at the helm for the Lady Bulldogs. “She isn’t afraid to put up some shots. We didn’t quite see that during the preseason, but she clearly came out today to see what she could do.”
McHi led for most of the first half. Brianna Coffee hit two of her three 3-pointers on the night in the first half, and the team’s guard-heavy offense was working well. Brownsville Veterans, however, closed the gap at the end of the half and trailed by just one, 32-31, going into the break.
The third quarter was a different ballgame, as the Chargers came out in a tight man-to-man defense and full-court pressed the Bulldogs. The adjustment spurred Brownsville Vets on a 17-7 run over a 5-minute period to lead 48-29 with 1:24 remaining in the third quarter. The press nullified McHi’s half-court offense, which had been producing most of the Bulldogs scoring by using perimeter passing and strong screening to create open shots.
Veterans took 12 free throws in the quarter, most of them coming after second and third attempts at a basket underneath. The Chargers dominated the boards and at one point had the ball for all but 13 seconds during a 2-minute spell that sent them to the line five times.
“They were killing us under the boards. That’s something that’s been an area of concern since the first day of practice,” Cantu said. “We don’t have a big, big team, so that’s an area we are going to have to work around.”
Lizzie Garza led Veterans with 13 points, followed by Hannah Meyers with 12.
McHi returns to action this weekend in the Weslaco tournament. Cantu said the goal for the early part of the season is to see what combinations of players work well together. Cantu knows that the low-post game and defensive rebounding are areas the Bulldogs will have to improve.
“It’s non-district right now, and this is when you figure out what’s going to work and what isn’t,” Cantu said. “Like tonight, the only thing they (Brownsville) really did different in the second half was play us man-to-man, and we kind of pulled back. Then, on defense, we were chasing a lot, and that didn’t help us be in the right position for rebounding.”
Alex Gamino added 10 for the Bulldogs, while Heaven Wilbanks contributed nine.