By CLAIRE CRUZ, Special to RGVSports.com
The Harlingen High Lady Cardinals are closing in on a second consecutive District 32-6A championship, but they faced a tough test Tuesday night when Los Fresnos came to town.
The Lady Falcons entered the contest on a four-game winning streak, with their last loss coming at the hands of Harlingen High. But despite being undersized in a very physical game, Harlingen High fought for a 45-40 victory to improve its win streak to 10 games.
“The girls gave a good effort, especially with the physicality of the game,” Harlingen High coach Ashley Moncivaiz said. “We had some turnovers, but that’s part of it when you play that type of game. Our girls never backed down. … sometimes you might not get the calls you want, but you still have to compete.”
Harlingen High relied on tight defense and solid outside shooting to take an early lead and hold it throughout the game. Alyssa Salas hit two 3-pointers, and Avery Hinojosa added another during the first half to take a 24-20 advantage into halftime. Salas finished the night as the top Harlingen High scorer with 12 points.
The quick hands and suffocating press of Harlingen High gave Los Fresnos fits when inbounding, which caused some sloppy passes and mistakes. Senior Ari Gallardo took over the offense for the Lady Falcons after falling behind during the first quarter, scoring 12 points in the second quarter en route to a 26-point effort.
But the rest of the Lady Falcons’ offense struggled to finish on layups and didn’t rebound as well as expected. Harlingen High came out on fire in the third to open a nine-point lead, the largest of the night. Los Fresnos didn’t get discouraged, and even with Harlingen High eating clock by dribbling the ball for long stretches just past halfcourt, Gallardo and company battled to the end, cutting the lead to three in the final seconds before a smart inbounds play put the game on ice.
“Harlingen is a great team, they force you to come out hard,” Los Fresnos coach Rebecca Valdez said. “I told my girls to keep their composure because it is such a physical game when you play Harlingen. A couple of made layups here and there, and it would’ve been a different ballgame. I’m proud of their effort, it was tremendous, just sad we didn’t come out on top.”
On the boys’ side of things, the Falcons left town with a 54-40 victory to kick off the second round of district play.
Los Fresnos dominated the first half, and playing behind such a large deficit forced Harlingen High to foul often. The Falcons took advantage, making 22 of 33 free throw attempts. Ricky Altamirano led the Falcons with 18 points.
Sparked by Eric Quilantan and Ashton Adams, the Cardinals fought back in the second half behind an 18-point third quarter, but it wasn’t enough. Quilantan and Mike Castillo paced Harlingen High with 10 points each and combined to score four of the Cardinals’ eight 3-pointers on the night.
“Give credit to our kids, they played to the end,” Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa said. “They have a goal in mind, and in order to achieve it we needed this game tonight, and they got it done.”