By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial started slow but used its defense to come back against Rivera.
The Lady Chargers trailed after the first quarter but turned their defensive pressure into points off turnovers and stymied the Lady Raiders for the remaining three quarters of their 46-29 District 32-6A victory Friday night at Brownsville Veterans.
Hannah Meyers led the way for Brownsville Veterans with 14 points — including five during the third quarter to help put the game out of reach — and added three rebounds and five steals. Jordan Rudd had 13 points — nine during the second quarter — five rebounds, four assists and six steals, and Krista Lopez had 10 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals for the Lady Chargers.
“We knew they were going to play a zone, that’s what they did last time, and we were settling for 3s,” Brownsville Veterans coach Valentin Paz said. “We weren’t moving the ball to attack. In the second quarter we picked up the defense, and at halftime we made an adjustment going to a different defense, and were able to get more traps and get out and run.”
Rivera started strong during the first quarter. Gisel Hinojosa opened the game with a 3, Ulyssa Alvarado had four straight points and Michelle Morales hit a 3 to give the Lady Raiders a 7-0 run and a 10-2 early lead. Briana Cortez hit a pair of free throws to end the run and later Meyers’ three-point play cut the deficit to five points, but Rivera led 12-7 after one.
As soon as Brownsville Veterans picked up its defense, the offense came alive during the second quarter. Cortez’s three-point play got the Lady Chargers within two, and Rudd scored a bucket to tie it at 12. Rudd then hit a 3 and added a steal and the finish for five straight points to give Brownsville Veterans a 10-0 run to start the quarter.
Rivera’s Jenny Cardenas hit a jumper to end the drought and pull within three, but the Lady Chargers took a 25-18 advantage into the break.
Rivera coach Willie Brown was quite upset with the officials as the teams headed to the locker room and nearly received a technical.
“My kids played hard, but we didn’t get a fair shot,” he said. “(The) officials started calling fouls, they weren’t calling them on both ends, that’s what happened. We got frustrated and shut down.”
During the third quarter, Meyers scored five straight points in a 7-0 run and a Lopez three-point play pushed the lead to 35-20 for Brownsville Veterans. Lopez scored six of her 10 points in the quarter as the Lady Chargers’ defense was again the difference as they took a 36-21 lead.
“Our defense is our offense,” Paz said. “If we can trap and get out in the open floor, it allows us to run a better flow on offense. I think the biggest difference in the second half was our defense. It was active.”
Alvarado started the fourth quarter with a bucket, but the Lady Chargers’ defense continued to be stout. Later, Rudd had back-to-back buckets to push the lead to 17. Rivera chipped away at the lead but didn’t overcome an off night offensively.
Brown thought his team wasn’t able to overcome the momentum swing in the second half. After scoring 12 first-quarter points, the Lady Raiders scored just 17 during the final three quarters.
“I’m not saying (Brownsville) Veterans isn’t a better team than we are,” he said. “But if the officials are not going to call the game the same way on both ends, we don’t know how to play. It takes us out of everything we wanted to do. I’m not saying the officials caused us to lose the ballgame. We threw the ball away way too much.
“After what we went through during the second quarter, the kids felt a little dejected and it was hard to get them up to play the second half.”
Alvarado led the way for Rivera with 14 points and nine rebounds. Morales and Hinojosa each had five points, two rebounds and a pair of steals for the Lady Raiders.
Paz said his team is getting similar scoring numbers from Meyers, Rudd, Lopez and Cortez.
“We’re getting an even flow,” he said. “We’re getting a good flow on the scoring, and it comes back to the defense. If we play defense, we can win games. If we don’t play defense, it doesn’t matter.”
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.