BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — Valerie Sanchez was the basketball player in her household but her younger sister, Carolina, didn’t give the game much thought.
Carolina Sanchez was more interested in her schoolwork, a self-described “bookworm” in her early days as an elementary school student.
“I saw Valerie playing, and I liked it a little bit, but I never thought about it until my friends joined the PAL during third grade,” Sanchez said.
The PAL is the Pharr Athletic League, a service of the City of Pharr that allows kids to join a sports team of their choice. Sanchez chose basketball.
“At that time, you had to pay 20 dollars to join, so I asked my mom, ‘Can you pay it for me?’” Sanchez said. “She was surprised when I asked her. She’s an athlete herself and she wanted my older sisters to be in sports, but they didn’t stay with it. I joined and I started to pick everything up really fast.”
Sanchez’s love for the game grew.
“I loved it from the beginning,” Sanchez said. “I told my mom that I wanted basketball to be my future. She said she would do everything possible to make that happen.”
Sanchez, a PSJA North (26-4, 6-2) sophomore guard, is averaging 13.7 points, 3.6 assists and 3.1 steals per game this season.
When she was younger, basketball was the outlet that allowed Sanchez to escape everyday life.
“I’ve been through a lot with people bullying me,” Sanchez said. “Basketball has made me forget about the problems. I use basketball as my motivation to become somebody. Basketball pushes me to get good grades, be respectful and be humble. I’ve met so many people playing basketball and it’s taught me so many things. I want to be successful at it, but if I don’t, I’m just glad I have the opportunity to play the game.”
PSJA North coach Randy Bocanegra identified the potential Sanchez had while she was a freshman last season.
“Her fundamentals were very advanced,” Bocanegra said. “She was a great ballhandler in addition to having court vision and being a good passer. It was only a matter of experience for her when she made the jump from eighth-grade basketball to varsity basketball. She adjusted well entering her sophomore year.”
While Sanchez was a freshman, she had the chance to watch former Raider guard Melly Palacios operate alongside point guard Caitlin Rodriguez. Palacios, a Monitor All-Area First Team performer in 2017-18, averaged 15.2 points and 4.7 steals per game as District 31-6A’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Sanchez’s role in the Raider offense is similar to Palacios’ function last season.
“I learned how to be a leader from Melly,” Sanchez said. “She was all about coming to practice early, be on time, respect (coach) Boc(anegra), play hard and never give up. There were times where we played bad. Instead of bringing us down, she always pumped us up. She still comes to our games whenever she can.”
Sanchez averaged 4.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.0 steals as a freshman.
“Those are big shoes to fill, but that’s the role we expected Carolina to step into,” Bocanegra said. “We thought Carolina would come in and average 10 to 12 points because she’s a sophomore. Now she’s up toward 14 per game. The time she spent with Melly was good for her because she mentored her to improve her game. It’s been great to see.”
Bocanegra has had his hand forced in recent years with regards to playing underclassmen. A roster that goes through the occasional injury can cause an underclassman like Sanchez get meaningful minutes on a playoff team.
“Underclassmen have come in and played big for us,” Bocanegra said. “It really pays off when they become juniors and seniors. We’ve had the better end of underclassmen coming to our school from our middle-school feeder. They’re doing a good job down there to prep them for varsity basketball.”
Tuesday’s loss to McAllen Memorial puts PSJA North two games behind the Mustangs, who are undefeated in District 30-6A with six district games to go.
The Raiders haven’t had trouble making the playoffs; advancing has become one of Bocanegra’s focuses of late. PSJA North has lost in the first round in each of the past two seasons after going three rounds deep in 2015-16.
“I think we can go far if we practice hard enough and do the little things,” Sanchez said.
“If we can do a better job of rebounding to limit second and third opportunities, then we’ll have a chance,” Bocanegra said. “Certainly, we’ll score more points. We’re a small team, but we’re going to run the floor. We’ve got to take it one game at a time until then.”