BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
Laredo United South played its second playoff game in a three-day span and won, defeating Weslaco High 55-47 in a Class 6A area round game Thursday night at Roma High School.
Weslaco High and Laredo United South, who both share the “Panthers” nickname, were meeting in the area round of the playoffs for the fourth postseason in a row. Weslaco High (27-9) won both playoff matchups in 2016 and 2017 while Laredo United South have now won the past two meetings.
“We missed 17 free throws, which hurt us a lot, obviously,” Weslaco High coach Griselda Fino said. “We did what we needed to do with attacking the basket as a part of our game plan. I thought we could expose them defensively and I thought our kids did that. I’m proud of our kids for doing that, but we just couldn’t convert free throws. Missing 17 is huge. If we make half of those, we’re right there.”
Whereas Laredo United South (24-14) used a 29-point fourth quarter to stun McAllen Memorial 62-58 Tuesday night in Corpus Christi, Laredo’s Panthers came out strong to start Thursday’s area round game. Weslaco High point guard Jada Lopez committed three early fouls that kept her out of the game, opening the door for Laredo United South to take an 11-point lead into halftime.
“We regrouped and came back to win the second half, but it wasn’t enough,” Fino said. “We pushed the ball, they pushed the ball and we were able to get back on defense. There weren’t any easy buckets out there for either team. They hit some big 3-pointers down the stretch. We’re a good shooting team from the 3-point line and we only got one off tonight.”
Weslaco High will head into the 2019-20 season losing three starters to graduation: Lopez, guard La Kysha Saldivar and forward Illiyah Cantu.
“We had five seniors and those three played huge roles for us,” Fino said. “Jada (Lopez) was our point guard and she probably only played one quarter worth of minutes tonight because of foul trouble. (La) Kysha missed all of last season and this was her only year playing for us and I know we could always count on Illiyah (Cantu). Wow. We just couldn’t finish.”
Laredo United South will advance to take on the winner of the Laredo United-Edinburg Vela game in the third round of the playoffs. The SaberCats are set to host the Longhorns at 7 p.m. tonight in Edinburg.