By Stefan Modrich
Staff Writer
Just when it seemed the La Feria Lionettes had seized control midway through the fourth quarter of their game against District 32-4A rival Rio Hondo, Natalie Martinez sensed her teammates needed a spark.
So she asked for her coach’s permission to take the game into her own hands.
The starting shooting guard for the visitors pressed and swiped the inbounds pass for a crucial go-ahead bucket in a defensive battle, in which the Lady Bobcats (21-10, 8-1 District 32-4A) emerged victorious Friday night, 31-30, to set up a showdown at Hidalgo between two of the district’s top teams.
“ She asked me, ‘Coach, can I go full denial?’ and I said, ‘Go for it,’” Rio Hondo coach Lori Garcia said. “I have so much faith in that little girl, with her defense, her steals, and she did exactly what we needed her to do.”
Pressuring the inbounds play was a gutsy call, but it was an easy one for Garcia, who has seen Martinez develop into one of her best defenders this season.
“ Natalie gets the most steals for me in every game,” Garcia said. “We knew what they were going to set up. We knew which girl they were going to go to, and again, that’s just preparation in practice, watching film.”
The play swung the momentum of the game in the opposite direction and gave Rio Hondo the boost it needed to close out a tight game on the road.
“ Whenever we make big plays like that, we all get excited,” said Martinez (eight points) of her go-ahead bucket that put the visitors up 29-28 with less than four minutes to go. “It brought our confidence way up.”
One would be hard-pressed to find a more back-and-forth affair, with several late lead changes.
La Feria led 13-12 after the first quarter, but neither team put up double digits again during the three quarters that followed. Despite La Feria outscoring Rio Hondo 16-12 during the second half, Rio Hondo’s consistent production was the difference, and a two-point second quarter doomed the Lionettes.
“ I told the girls that (La Feria) was going to play super hard,” Garcia said. “We went into overtime in the last game, and I told them you’ve got to come out and play twice as hard tonight.”
The Lady Bobcats were led by senior center Taylor Gomez, who had 11 points, and Martinez added eight points.
“ We knew La Feria was going to come out strong,” Martinez said. “We’ve been practicing hard for them, because this is a big rivalry game for us. We knew they were going to press, and because we practiced that we were able to break the press when they came at us this time.”
Defensively, Rio Hondo locked down La Feria star Kayla Lowe, who finished with four points and fouled out in the game’s final minute. Lowe had to watch from the bench during La Féria’s last possession with 1.6 seconds to go, and the Lady Bobcats held on for one final stop to win their seventh straight game.
La Feria’s top scorer Friday night was junior power forward Aaliyah Stewart, with 11 points. Junior guard Maggie Cavazos finished with eight points and senior Karina Diaz had five for the Lionettes, who fell to 5-4 in district play.