By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Pace started out slowly during the first quarter, but it made up for it quickly.
The Lady Vikings used a solid defensive effort to erase an early deficit and went on to defeat the Porter Cowgirls 42-20 in a District 32-5A game Friday at Porter.
“When our defense plays well, we play well,” Pace coach Kris Metzmaker said. “When you start off slow to anybody and give them the advantage, you’re lucky if they don’t come back. It was our defense that got us back in the game.”
The Cowgirls’ offense started out strong, and they took advantage of a sluggish start by Pace to take an 8-4 lead after the first quarter.
But the Lady Vikings scored 10 straight points, including two buckets from Valeria Varela to tie the game at 10, and Susana Guevara followed with a layup to give Pace its first lead in the second quarter. Porter’s Danielle D’Campo hit a 3-pointer to bring the Cowgirls within one, but the Pace lead grew from there and the Lady Vikings led 16-13 at the break.
After halftime, Pace opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run during the first two minutes, including back-to-back buckets from Nadia Mendoza off steals by the Lady Vikings’ defense.
D’Campo stopped the run with another 3-pointer and Krista Quiroz added a free throw, but the Cowgirls rally was short-lived.
“The difference was our energy level. We talked about that at halftime, get out there and get after it,” Metzmaker said. “We came out much quicker, much more focused. The third quarter was probably our highest energy level.”
Pace opened the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run, including a basket and one free throw by Guevara to push the lead to 16 points midway through the quarter.
“We started off pretty strong, first half we were down by three, but the second half Pace came out and wanted it a little more than we did,” Porter coach Tony Saavedra said. “I think we had a lot of turnovers, but respect for their defense, they were being aggressive. A lot of our passes, instead of a simple bounce pass, we tried to float it over and they stole the ball. Just a lot of turnovers, a lot of our mistakes.”
The Lady Vikings kept up their aggressive defense and outscored the Cowgirls 9-3 the rest of the way to seal the victory.
Mendoza led Pace (14-17, 6-5) with a game-high 13 points, six rebounds and four steals. Guevara finished with eight points, six rebounds and five steals, and Varela added seven points, five rebounds, six steals, a pair of assists and two blocks for the Lady Vikings.
Despite the outcome, Saavedra was proud of the attitude from his team.
“It was just two different teams, and that’s been going on all year,” he said. “The first half we’re there with everybody, the second half we just lose it. A lot of it is inexperience. A lot of the games we’ve been in, in the end you can see the inexperience.
“But we work, they didn’t quit. The effort is there, I believe its just experience.”
D’Campo led Porter (7-25, 2-9) with eight points, including two 3-pointers and a couple of rebounds. Sabrina Garcia was held to four points and added seven rebounds and three steals, and Quiroz added three points and six rebounds for the Cowgirls.
With the victory, Pace moves into better shape in the standings while trying to secure a postseason berth. But Metzmaker knows her team can’t have anymore slow starts to make it happen .
“This is the first time we’ve had a chance to get into the playoffs in quite a few years, and you can never take anybody for granted,” she said. “A 2-8 teamis just as dangerous as a 10-1 team. Take care of your job, take care of business and we’ll be all right. We came out in the second half and did that.”
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.