By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t very well-played and it wasn’t even all that satisfying to watch considering all the turnovers, missed shots and unconverted free throws.
But it was close.
The McAllen Rowe Lady Warriors (4-5) came from behind to take the lead with a little more than one minute remaining and frantically held on for a 34-32 non-district victory over Los Fresnos (4-9) on Tuesday at the Lady Falcons’ gym.
“It got a little sloppy at times and we missed a lot of easy shots, but fortunately we still have a couple of weeks before our first district game,” Rowe coach Raul Vega said. “I was really happy with our level of hustle. I think we played hard the entire night. We had a lot of substitutions, and they all came in and did their part.”
Los Fresnos led 11-6 after one quarter, and the score was tied at 15 at halftime. The Lady Falcons went into the final period with a precarious one-point advantage, 23-22.
Los Fresnos led by as many as five points on five different occasions during the game. The last time was 29-24 at the 6:54 mark of the final period.
Jewel Membrere led Rowe with 10 points and teammate Mayda Garcia added seven.
Joseline Caraveo had 12 points to lead Los Fresnos. Emily Pena and Kelsi McDonough each contributed six points for the Lady Falcons.
Caraveo hit a jump shot from the side with 1:32 left to tie the score at 31 before Rowe’s Jovanni Solis made the front end of a two-shot free-throw situation to give the Lady Warriors the lead for good, 32-31, with 1:28 to play.
Fans and the benches for both teams didn’t seem too pleased with the referees throughout the contest. The Los Fresnos bench was called for a technical with 34.4 seconds remaining, and Rowe’s Membrere calmly went to the line and sank both free throws, giving the visitors a 34-31 advantage.
“Jewel made a couple of clutch free throws there,” Vega said. “If she didn’t make them, we would have been in a little bit of trouble.”
It was the first time all night the Lady Warriors drained a pair of free throws on one trip to the line, although things were far from over.
A free throw by Los Fresnos’ McDonough cut the lead to 34-32 with 19.5 seconds showing.
Rowe then inbounded the ball and brought it down the court only to turn it over to the Lady Falcons, who eventually took it out from the side on their end of the court with 3.4 seconds to play. A long shot from near the top of the key at the buzzer by Los Fresnos’ Tanya Leos went off the rim, giving the relieved Lady Warriors their fourth win of the season.
The Lady Warriors next play Thursday in a tournament at Laredo. Los Fresnos continues non-district play Friday at Pace.