EDINBURG — During a game in which both teams controlled their postseason destinies, it was the experience and sharp-shooting ways of Ashley Smith that made the difference Tuesday night.
Scoring a game-high 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field, the Mission Veterans Memorial senior guard ended her regular-season tenure as a Lady Patriot in splendid fashion, helping her team to a 61-48 victory over Edinburg Vela.
The win locks in Mission Vets as the second seed in District 31-5A and sets up a bi-district date next week with PSJA High at a time and place to be determined today.
For Vela, the loss creates a logjam for the third and fourth seeds. The Lady SaberCats, Rio Grande City and Roma each finish 7-5 in 31-5A and will discuss tiebreakers and play-in game scenarios today, too.
While her district peers duke it out for a spot in the postseason, Smith has the luxury of looking forward.
“We want to get another bi-district championship,” Smith said. “That’s been one of our goals all season long.”
With an automatic playoff trip on the line, the Lady Patriots (22-13, 8-4) played their most complete game of the season.
Smith fired away from midrange and downtown — hitting four shots from long range — while her teammates contributed elsewhere on the floor. Andrea De la Garza scored 11 points thanks to a series of runners in the lane and Rosa Silva totaled eight points on putback situations.
Though the points came freely, defense was once against emphasized by Mission Vets. Just as they did during Friday’s win over Rio Grande City, the Lady Patriots employed a 2-3 zone to fluster Vela’s interior size.
Mission accomplished. Vela’s post players, including Bianca Cortez and Brittany Escobar, hit only half of their 16 attempts at the rim, and many of Vela’s guards struggled shooting as well — including junior Jaida Muhammad, who went 5-of-15 from the floor.
“We’re usually a man team,” Mission Veterans coach Rafael Cantu said. “We’ve only recently added the zone into what we’re doing. We feel like we get some better communication on the defensive end that way, and it creates better matchups for us.”
Cantu said he noticed his team was nervous before the game, but that it was a positive omen. The nerves were the sign of a team prepared and ready to execute its game plan with postseason hopes hanging in the balance.
With its convincing win over Vela, Mission Veterans enters the playoffs arguably playing the best basketball of any team in 31-5A. Aside from a loss to Roma in a game in which Smith did not play, the team beat district champion Sharyland High in overtime, completed a sweep of Rio Grande City and controlled Vela on the Lady SaberCats’ home court.
“We’re playing really well right now,” De la Garza said. “We knew what these last couple of games meant, and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But we prepared and watched a lot of film. We knew what we had to do.”