HARLINGEN — Harlingen South was home for this year’s Dr. Keillor Classic girls tournament with 13 games being played on site and three others being held at the Cano freshman campus.
Hondo, the only out-of-area team to participate in the tourney, played two games and had to come from behind in both, beating San Benito 53-34 and Harlingen South 74-61 to end the day 2-0 and advance to the semifinals.
The Lady Owls opened their tournament play against San Benito and immediately found themselves down 22-19 at the half.
However, Hondo fought back and dominated the second half behind Tyler Barnes’ 12 points and Maegan McKay’s nine.
“I told them that they needed to contest every shot and to transition and run the floor,” said Hondo head coach D.J. Denton. “After we knocked down a few shots I felt like we just out played them and worked harder for the 94 feet.”
The Lady Owls took the lead in the third and never looked back, outscoring the Lady Greyhounds 31-20 in the final two periods.
Leading the charge for the Lady Greyhounds was Javana Gonzalez with 12 points, while teammates Dina Trevino and Miranda Vallejo had seven a piece.
Harlingen South began the day with a bye and played its first game against Hondo. The Lady Hawks used homecourt advantage and rallied behind a crowd that was hanging on every shot. South used its momentum to jump out to an early 37-29 halftime advantage.
The lead, however, was short-lived as Hondo once again came from behind to erase the deficit and come out with the win.
Hondo will face Edinburg Economeds in their semifinal game today at 11:30 a.m.
Harlingen High was another team to go 2-0 on the tournament’s first day. The Lady Cards trounced Lyford 63-43 in their opener and handed McAllen Memorial a 52-33 loss setting up a date semifinal date with Los Fresnos, which also went 2-0 on the day. The Lady Cards and Lady Falcons tip off at 10 a.m. today.
“Overall we’re doing really good. We’re working together and moving the ball around looking for our inside game and outside game,” said Harlingen head coach Ashley Moncivaiz. “We’re trying to work on gaining consistency on each possession but I think we’re doing a good job.”
The Lady Falcons also enjoyed a good start to the tournament, beating PSJA 49-32 in their opener and defeating Harlingen JV team in their second game.
The final game of the day featured Harlingen South and San Benito, two teams trying to bounce back from opening losses.
However, the Lady Hawks were able to overcome a first half 26-22 deficit to pull out a 57-49 victory.
“We were very sluggish in the first game and it took us a while,” said Harlingen South head coach Kelly Garrett. “In the second game we played a little better, got into the flow of the game with Ruayda (Bouls) and Emily (Susen) stepping up.”
Dr. Keillor Classic bracket
GIRLS
(All games at Harlingen South unless otherwise noted)
Friday’s games
Game 1: Edinburg Economedes 45, Brownsville Rivera 29
Game 2: Harlingen JV 40, Harlingen South JV 18
Game 3: Los Fresnos 49, PSJA 32
Game 4: Brownsville St. Joseph 49, La Joya Palmview 36
Game 5: McAllen Memorial 46, Donna North 13
Game 6: Hondo 53, San Benito 39
Game 7: Harlingen 63, Lyford 43
Game 8: Harlingen South vs. bye
Game 9: Ecoomedes def. St. Joseph
Game 10: Los Fresnos def. Harlingen JV
Game 11: Harlingen def. McAllen Memorial
Game 12: Hondo 71, Harlingen South 61
Game 13: Palmview def. Rivera
Game 14: PSJA def. South JV
Game 15: Lyford def. Donna North
Game 16: Harlingen South 57, San Benito 49
Saturday’s games
Game 17: Harlingen JV vs. McAllen Memorial, 8:30 a.m., main gym
Game 18: St. Joseph vs. Harlingen South, 8:30 a.m., mini-gym
Game 21: PSJA vs. Lyford, 10 a.m., mini-gym
Game 22: Palmview vs. San Benito, 11:30 a.m., mini-gym
Game 27: Loser 17 vs. Loser 18, 1 p.m., mini-gym
Game 28: Loser 21 vs. Loser 22, 2:30 p.m., mini-gym
Guranteed games
Game 29: Rivera vs. South JV, 9 a.m., Cano Freshman Academy
Game 30: South JV vs. Donna North, 11 a.m., Cano Freshman Academy
Game 31: Rivera vs. Donna North, 1 p.m., Cano Freshman Academy
Semifinals
Game 19: Los Fresnos vs. Harlingen, 10 a.m., main gym
Game 20: Economedes vs. Hondo, 11:30 a.m., main gym
Consolation final
Winner 21 vs. Winner 22, 4 p.m., mini-gym
Fifth place
Winner 17 vs. Winner 18, 1 p.m., main gym
Third place
Loser 19 vs. Loser 20, 2:30 p.m., main gym
Championship
Winner 19 vs. Winner 20, 4 p.m., main gym