By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
For the Hanna Lady Golden Eagles, defense has been the catalyst for their play of late.
After Hanna held Los Fresnos to 23 points during a victory Friday, it’s hard to argue how far the Lady Eagles could go if they can keep it up.
“If we can continue playing those defensive type of games throughout the season, that’s going to give us a lot of opportunities the second half of district,” Hanna coach Luis Gonzalez said.
Hanna is 17-8, 4-4 in District 32-6A. The Lady Eagles are tied with the Lady Falcons for fourth in the standings midway through the district season.
Hanna plays various zone defenses, and its only other weakness this season has been rebounding. Gonzalez is optimistic that the Lady Eagles can become more consistent on offense and on the glass.
“Offensively, we’re on and off,” he said. “But if we can continue to play like that defensively, we’ll be OK during the second half of district.”
YOUTH SERVED
For St. Joseph Academy, the future is now.
Four sophomores played big roles as freshmen on last season’s 35-3 squad. Now they are taking on even bigger roles and playing beyond their years.
Sophomores Diana Garcia, Ceci De La Gaza, Franchesca Huerta and Valeria Tapia have been doing their part, and it showed in the Lady Bloodhounds in the TAPPS District 2-5A opener against San Antonio St. Anthony on Saturday.
The sophomores combined for 31 points, 15 rebounds and nine steals for St. Joseph (12-6, 1-0) during its 40-37 victory.
The poise that the four have shown early in the season will be especially important as the Lady Bloodhounds face two more district opponents at home before heading to San Antonio on three consecutive weekends in early February
“Our schedule wasn’t supposed to be like that,” St. Joseph coach Cynthia Martinez said, explaining the schedule change was to work around some of her girls’ cotillion obligations. “If we can get two more, that would be awesome. That relieves a little bit of the pressure.”
But Martinez knows it won’t be easy.
“That’s going to be a tough road for us, every weekend up to San Antonio and back,” she said. “When you go there, you’re always going into the lion’s den.”
MOVING UP THE RANKINGS
The Brownsville First Baptist girls basketball team is now ranked No. 20 in the TAPPS small school state rankings.
The Lady Crusaders entered the poll at 24th and moved up the list this week. After winning district last season, First Baptist returned nearly everyone and is hoping to build upon last season’s success.
“We got knocked off in playoffs by the team that won it all (Granbury North Central Texas Academy), but it was a close, competitive game,” First Baptist coach Terry Roberts said. “Three of the girls have been playing for me for four years now, they are the core of our team.”
First Baptist (17-2, 4-0) is unbeaten in district play thus far, losing only two non-district games to Rio Hondo and St. Joseph.
Roberts and his squad were surprised by the rankings, but appreciative of the recognition.
“The girls work hard, they are very coachable,” he said. “We’re really proud of them.”
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.