DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Seniors Marissa Gasca and Addison Dickey combined for 32 points and the Harlingen Lady Cardinals steamrolled Weslaco High 65-41 at home on Tuesday to improve to 7-0 on the season.
Gasca led the Lady Cards with 17 points, including a three-pointer, while Dickey finished with 15 – nine in the first quarter – and had several key rebounds.
But while Harlingen’s offense was on point Tuesday, Lady Cardinals head coach Ashley Moncivaiz credited the team’s defense as the real key to the victory.
“It’s also the reason we’re undefeated,” she said. “Defense is something we’ve been putting into our minds that we’re going to do first. We put defense into our mindset first and offense will follow.
“It’s something we’ve been working on since last year and now you can see the difference in how much they trust each other.”
The Lady Cards got off to a quick start behind Dickey, who was a force under the basket that Weslaco could not stop.
Meanwhile, Nadia Flores pumped in five points, Gasca had a field goal and the Lady Cards took a 16-10 lead after the first period.
In the second quarter, the Lady Cards continued to press on defense, but the Lady Panthers managed to find some offense and got within four points at 22-18 behind the play of Bree Pena and Gabby Casares.
However, that was as close as Weslaco would get as the Lady Cards pulled away and took a 31-21 lead into the half.
The third period was actually the Lady Cards’ lowest-scoring frame as they only put up 14 points on the scoreboard. However, the Lady Panthers just couldn’t find an offensive rhythm in the face of Harlingen’s defense and trailed 45-32 heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Cards put their foot on the gas and went on a 16-3 run, holding the Lady Panthers to just three free throws until they finally scored a field goal with 2:18 left in the game. Weslaco was held to just nine points in the final period.
Elvira Fraga led the way offensively in the fourth, scoring seven points. She finished with 11.
The Lady Cardinals were 10 of 14 from the free-throw line while the Lady Panthers were 12 of 19.