By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial struggled from the free throw line against Harlingen High.
The Lady Chargers missed some crucial attempts down the stretch and hit just 10 of 20 for the game as the Lady Cardinals took advantage and escaped with a 42-41 overtime victory over Brownsville Veterans during the battle of the top two teams in District 32-6A on Friday night at Brownsville Veterans.
“Free throws, there’s nothing else to say,” Brownsville Veterans coach Valentin Paz said. “If we would have hit two or three of our free throws, I think we shot probably 30 or 40 percent in those last few minutes, and that’s the difference in the game. You can’t beat the No. 1 ranked team in the Valley if you don’t hit your free throws.
“If you have them on the ropes, you have to put them away. It was just free throws.”
Harlingen High freshman Ariel Leal scored five of her 12 points during overtime, including a 3-pointer that took the lead late and two free throws that sealed the win.
“I told Ariel she needed to attack the basket,” Harlingen coach Ashley Moncivaiz said. “Once she started attacking and understanding what I wanted her to do … before she was being too passive, when she became aggressive that helped us.”
It ended up being much closer than it started. After Harlingen High started the game up 3-0, Krista Lopez hit a 3 to tie it and that started Brownsville Veterans on a 13-0 run as Lopez hit two more 3s to take a 10-point lead. Harlingen High’s Sami Quilantan ended the run with a jumper, but the Lady Chargers led 17-6 after one.
The Lady Cardinals ramped up their defense and started the second quarter on a 5-0 run. All five points were from Quilantan, who had eight of her team-high 14 points in the quarter, and Harlingen High cut the deficit to 21-18 by the break.
“We just changed momentum, we picked up the pace,” Moncivaiz said. “We put more pressure on defense and told the girls not to worry, we have this game and that’s what they believed.”
In the third quarter, Brownsville Veterans used a 4-0 run with a bucket by Hannah Meyers and a layup from Lopez to take a 27-22 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Brownsville Veterans went on a 6-0 run early in the fourth quarter with a putback by Meyers and four free throws from Jordan Rudd to push the lead to six. But Harlingen High kept chipping away at the lead, and Leal tied the game with a bucket with less than one minute to go to force overtime with the teams tied at 37.
In overtime, the Lady Chargers hit a pair of free throws to take a 37-35 lead, but Leal scored all of Harlingen High’s points in extra frame as she hit a 3 and later knocked down two free throws that proved to be the game-winning points.
Rudd, who played through back spasms, led Brownsville Veterans with 15 points, nine of them coming from the charity stripe. She added four rebounds and a few steals. Lopez finished with 13 points, including those 3s in the first quarter, and Meyers had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Chargers.
Quilantan added six rebounds and three steals. Marissa Gasca finished with 10 points — all in the second half — and six rebounds, and Addison Dickey had nine rebounds for the Lady Cardinals.
“It’s kind of like an escape, but I don’t see it that way. I see it as we are the better team,” Moncivaiz said. “We played a slower game. When we picked it up, that’s why we were able to stay with them because at the end, they were missing free throws because they were tired.”
Paz said his team failed to close out the Lady Cardinals when they had the opportunity.
“We just didn’t close it out,” he said. “We didn’t close out those (last) two quarters. But games are won and lost at the free throw line. If you don’t hit free throws you lose games, you lose championships.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.