By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
The Weslaco High Panthers were trailing Harlingen South by two points after the first half of Tuesday’s bi-district matchup.
In the locker room, Panthers coach Gabe Valdez told his players to fight through it and to focus on stopping key South players. The Panthers then outscored the Hawks 19-3 in the third quarter to take a commanding lead they rode to a 53-41 victory to advance to the second round of the playoffs, where they’ll face McAllen Rowe.
“Offensively we executed, we got the ball to the right people at the right time. Defensively, we made the stops that we needed in that quarter and it really boosted us,” Valdez said. “Any win on the road is good for the team. We came in knowing it was going to be a tough environment, and thank God we came out on top.”
Weslaco High jumped out to an early advantage behind good defense and strong rebounding. A 3-pointer by South senior guard Ethan Mireles ignited the Hawks and gave them their first lead of the contest with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter. South pushed the tempo and used solid play in the paint to hold on to a 22-20 lead at halftime.
But after tallying three points, South’s shooting went cold. The Panthers got steals with their quick-handed defense and cashed them in offensively to spark a huge swing of momentum. At the 5:38 mark of the third, sophomore Andrew Olmeda hit a 3 to retake the lead for the Panthers. Senior Joshua Rodriguez scored eight of his 14 points in the quarter to widen the deficit.
The Panthers scored 19 unanswered, and more than seven minutes of clock ticked away before South ended its scoring drought on a free throw by junior Rudy Rodriguez. By then, Weslaco High was up 43-26.
“I think we came out flat in the second half,” South coach Brian Molina said. “Credit to (Weslaco High), they did a good job of stopping us. We were unaggressive, we turned the ball over and it led to easy buckets for them.”
Harlingen South continued to play hard despite the large deficit in the final minutes of the game. Five Hawks players hit paydirt during the fourth quarter and the halfcourt defensive setup caused Weslaco High fits as South pressured the ball and closed up the paint.
The Hawks dropped 16 points in the fourth, making it their most productive quarter of the contest, but the Panthers worked the clock to hold on to the win.
Joshua Rodriguez led all scorers with 14. Junior J.P. Galindo tallied 10 points, and fellow juniors J.J. Balderas and Vince Perales each scored eight for the Panthers. Mireles and junior Alex Rodriguez recorded nine points apiece to pace South, and junior Rudy Rodriguez added eight.
“We have a very young team, so in the first and second quarter maybe some people were nervous, but we came out strong and were able to take it to them in the third quarter, and that really set the tone for the rest of the game,” Joshua Rodriguez said. “Everybody plays their role, everybody contributes in their own way. That’s big for us.”