HARLINGEN — Brownsville Veterans’ Jordan Rudd controlled the game, scored 12 points and guided the Lady Chargers to a 47-35 District 32-6A opening victory against the Lady Hawks on Friday night at Harlingen South.
After the game, Brownsville Veterans head coach Valentin Paz spoke a little about what the win means for the team moving forward.
“We’re excited and looking forward to the season,” said Paz. “We break the season down into three parts: the preseason, the first half of district and then the second part of district. We were talking about how important this win was to get the second part of our season on the right path.”
From the opening whistle the Lady Chargers (11-5, 1-0) came out aggressive and gave South (11-7, 0-1) a lot to handle, running the floor and getting to loose balls first.
However, Harlingen South pushed back as the lead switched hands four times in the first quarter alone ending the first period at 13-13.
With a 28-23 first half lead, Paz stressed the importance of sticking to the game plan and playing as a team.
“We’ve being gelling together and the girls having been playing together and it was evident in the first half with the ball movement,” said Paz. “I think out of the first 28 points, only two shots were from the outside and everything else was layups because the ball was moving.
“Teamwork is important it wasn’t just one person going to the hole, it was pass pass pass. The girls played together.”
The second half belonged to Veterans as the Lady Chargers outscored the Lady Hawks 13-9 in the third and 6-3 in the fourth.
For the Lady Chargers, Rudd controlled the flow and tempo of the game handling the ball and allowing other shooters to get to the corners.
Another standout for Veterans was Sara Sandoval, who added 10 points.
“She fouled out, but she’s been our leading rebounder and leads the team in scoring from the post,” said Paz about Sandoval. “She was the one ending up with most of the layups and because of her speed she has the advantage over some of the other players her size.”
For the Lady Hawks Ruayda Bouls had another big game, finishing with 17 points while teammates Mikaela Flores and Emily Susan each contributed eight.