By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Dani Diaz came out with a hot hand against Pace, and that was enough to send the Lady Chargers to victory Tuesday night.
Diaz started the game with a 3-pointer and scored nine points in the opening quarter to spark the Brownsville Veterans’ offense in a 59-27 win over the Lady Vikings in a District 32-5A game at Brownsville Veterans.
Diaz would finish with 11 points — all in the first half — five rebounds, four assists and five steals to lead the way for Brownsville Veterans (23-7, 8-0 in District 32-5A) in the start of the second half of district play. Pace fell to 5-3 in the district standings and 14-14 overall.
“I was aware of the importance of this game and I wanted to start off good,” Diaz said. “As a captain, I have to lead my teammates. I tried my best and it worked (Tuesday).
“This is the first game of the second half of district so we wanted to come out strong and make a statement.”
In the first quarter, Diaz set the tone for the game as she hit the first of three consecutive 3s for the Lady Chargers. Jordan Rudd and Lizzie Garza followed suit with back-to-back treys as the hosts raced out to a 9-3 edge after Pace’s Lexy Arce hit a triple for the Lady Vikings. But Pace went cold from the field and Brownsville Veterans finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to build a 16-point lead.
“We had open shots, they’re shots we’ve been making in the past four games, but they weren’t going down,” Pace coach Eddie Lozano said. “It happens. It was one of those nights. That’s a good ball club over there. That’s not the team you want to have a bad shooting night against.”
In the second quarter, a free throw by the Lady Vikings’ Kaylynn Quezeda briefly halted their scoring drought, but the Lady Chargers’ Ares Muzquiz hit a 3 to push the lead to 28-4. Arce and Quezeda each hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 20 points, but Brownsville Veterans closed the half with four points in transition for a 32-8 lead at the break.
“I think they were feeling it,” Brownsville Veterans coach Valentin Paz said of his team’s quick start. “Dani was feeling it and she was making great plays. She had some great passes toward the end of half. We ran off nine or 10 points at the end of the (first) half because of her passes. She played an excellent game.”
In the third quarter, Quezeda had three straight buckets in an attempt to chip away at the lead, but Garza had four points during a 6-0 surge for the Lady Chargers to push the advantage to 42-14. Quezeda totaled 10 points in the quarter, but Hannah Meyers had eight to pad the Brownsville Veterans cushion to 48-18.
Quezeda finished with 17 points — including 14 after halftime — and nine rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to combat an off shooting night for the visitors.
The teams emptied their benches early on in the fourth quarter and played nearly even the rest of the way.
Pace had a few buckets off steals, but couldn’t match what Brownsville Veterans did over the course of the night, as it finished with four 3-pointers and 15 steals, getting many of those takeaways in transition.
Garza finished with 20 points, including 11 after the break, to go with seven rebounds and three steals. Meyers added 14 points and 12 rebounds and Rudd had seven points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals.
Arce finished with five points and seven rebounds, Rosa Salinas had five points and a pair of steals and Nadia Mendoza had five rebounds and three steals off the bench for Pace.
“Right now our goal is one step up (into second place),” Lozano said of his team who is currently in third place of the district standings. “We’re trying to get third or second. We just have to get ready for the next game and win the ones we’re supposed to.”
Paz also gave credit to a strong defensive effort by his squad.
“The biggest thing was our defense,” he said. “Our goal is always eight (points) or less (per quarter). I was happy the girls were shooting well, but it comes from our defense.
“Defense is our lifestyle. If we play defense we’ll stay in the game and the offense will come.”
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.