By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Los Fresnos is proving its resilience after a couple of close wins recently.
The Lady Falcons were trailing Edinburg North and McAllen Memorial during the fourth quarter before making a comeback to win.
Los Fresnos defeated Edinburg North in the last minute, pulling out a three-point victory, and the Lady Falcons took a slim lead over McAllen Memorial with less than a minute left in the final quarter after trailing throughout and held on for another three-point win.
The Lady Falcons are down two starters due to injuries but are getting help from different players.
“We could have just laid down and died (against Edinburg North), but they kept fighting and never quit,” Los Fresnos coach Kim Edquist said. “Everybody did something good to go ahead. They did that (Saturday against McAllen Memorial) and never stopped.”
Edquist is pleased with the way the team has contributed in recent games.
“Everybody’s done their job to step up and take some heat,” she said. “They’ve done what we’ve asked them, and we can’t ask for anything else.
“I think this should be a big momentum builder.”
LEARNING LESSONS: After Brownsville Veterans Memorial lost to past playoff foe Laredo Alexander in a non-district game Friday, the Lady Chargers didn’t panic.
They instead took it as a lesson that they needed to improve.
Brownsville Veterans beefed up its early season schedule to play quality opponents. The Lady Chargers wanted to be better prepared as they plan to return to the postseason again this year and for teams like the Lady Bulldogs, who they’ve met in the second round of the playoffs the past two seasons.
“We have to learn to deal with the physicality and step up to that challenge,” Brownsville Veterans coach Valentin Paz said. “We scheduled this game for the purpose of getting better.”
The Lady Chargers led at halftime but the Lady Bulldogs turned the tables during the second half, turning a two-point deficit into a 15-point victory.
But Paz was all right with the setback as long as it teaches his team something to use later on.
“I’d rather take a loss like (Friday) than blow out somebody by 30 points,” he said. “We’re going to learn a whole lot more about us to get to that next level mentally, physically. I take this as a learning lesson for us.”
LOCKDOWN DEFENSE: Rivera coach Willie Brown is excited the way the team continues to show progress on a daily basis, particularly on defense.
“Every day we play, we see so much improvement in a lot of things,” he said. “Especially our defense, we’ve got so much better at doing it. I think the girls take a lot of pride in it and hang their hat on doing those things defensively.”
Rivera has fared well early in the season, but several players also played volleyball, which has slowed the process a bit getting them into basketball shape.
Brown is confident with the team’s defense and knows the offense will catch up soon.
“We feel our offense will come, but our defense is already there,” he said. “I think midway through district, we’ll be a lot better (than we are now).”
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.