BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
When Angela Villarreal is congratulated on winning the award, she pauses and does some thinking.
“Wait, which one?” she asks.
Villarreal is not being ostentatious or arrogant. The question is legitimate and earnest. The senior for the Weslaco High Lady Panthers has won so many individual honors for her play on the hardwood this season it’s hard to keep track of them all.
In addition to winning RGVSports.com’s All-Valley Player of the Year for girls basketball, Villarreal has been pegged as the District 31-6A MVP as well as All-Valley MVP by the RGV Basketball Coaches Association. Among other accolades, she’s also received recognition from the Texas High School Basketball Coaches Association, where she’s included on the All-Region team.
“It’s been an honor to have all of that,” Villarreal said. “I made a lot of those awards goals I wanted to achieve. Last year, I was able to achieve a lot of things as a junior, but, for senior year, I was hoping to get more. I strive to get more every year.”
The litany of personal prestige has been a long time coming for Villarreal, who concludes her high school basketball career as one of the Valley’s most celebrated athletes. Though the 2014-15 season featured a bevy of talented players, none were revered by opposing coaches and players in the manner Villarreal was.
Lady Panthers coach Griselda Fino knew Villarreal’s talents were apparent from the get-go. During an open gym in 2010, when Villarreal was in eighth grade, Fino saw an otherwise shy girl transform once the ball was in her hands.
“She spent like, an hour pretending to tie her shoes. I couldn’t get her on the court,” Fino said. “I think she was intimidated by some of the taller girls. But, once she got on the court, I knew immediately how good she was going to be. She was so fast, but she was also fast with the ball. She already had such control of the ball.”
Villarreal assumed starting responsibilities midway through her freshman year, and recalls the steep learning curve of playing for Fino at the varsity level.
“I was scared to even drive to the basket,” Villarreal said. “I was just scared I was going to mess up. I felt like I wasn’t as good. During the playoffs, (coach Fino) came up to me towards the end of the game and was like, ‘You’re not in middle school anymore. You have to play.’”
It was easy for Villarreal to grow complacent on the court during her first two seasons. The Lady Panthers were deep with talent and ran a post-heavy offense through Laura Van Tilberg, who graduated a season ago. However, after Van Tilburg suffered a torn ACL during a bi-district playoff game during Villarreal’s sophomore year, Weslaco’s offensive focused changed.
“We became a bit more of a guard-oriented team,” Villarreal said. “I had to score more and be more of an impact player. With Laura out, everyone wrote us off, but we still made it to the (regional semi-final round).”
Though Van Tilberg eventually returned to full health, her time away allowed Villarreal to grow accustomed to being the focal point on offense, a role she resumed once more this season.
“This year was a lot of guard work,” Villarreal said. “We didn’t have any height this year. It just had to work that way. We transitioned our offense a lot from sophomore year to now.”
With Villarreal the Lady Panthers’ go-to scoring threat, Fino says opposing teams consistently tried to face-guard Villarreal, knowing that stopping her meant stopping Weslaco. Despite the extra defensive attention, Villarreal averaged 14.8 points with 3.9 assists and 6.4 steals. Behind those numbers, the Lady Panthers went 29-5 during the regular season, and split the District 31-6A championship with PSJA North.
That’s not to say Villarreal’s senior season wasn’t met with disappointment. Though the team aimed for a third-straight trip to the fourth round of the postseason, Weslaco was ousted in the area round after a 53-49 loss to Del Rio.
“We shouldn’t have lost that game,” Villarreal said. “We had the defensive intensity, but we just missed a bunch of easy shots. Of all the nights to have a bad game, we picked the wrong night.”
Though her season ended prematurely, Villarreal will continue her basketball career at UT-RGV next fall. She is the only Valley girls player this season to receive a four-year scholarship to a Division I program.
“I’ve been coaching for nine years, and I really think (Angela) is a once-in-a-lifetime kid,” Fino said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get someone as good as her. She really is the best player I’ve ever coached.”
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