By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial received two big halves from Jordan Rudd and Hannah Meyers.
Rudd and Meyers finished with 20 points apiece to lead the Lady Chargers to a 63-51 win over Hanna in District 32-6A action Friday night at Brownsville Veterans.
Rudd, who scored 12 points during the first half, finished with 14 rebounds, four assists and six steals. Meyers had 13 after the break, including nine in the third quarter, and added eight rebounds to lead the way for Brownsville Veterans
“Jordan was good (in the first half) but kept pushing the pace in the second half being more of a distributer,” Brownsville Veterans coach Valentin Paz said. “Hannah, even though she’s a guard, she has the best post moves on the block. We saw that Mia (Paz) was guarding Hannah. Every time we saw that, we wanted Hannah to take her to the basket.”
The teams traded 3s in the early going, but Brownsville Veterans went on a run during the first quarter. The Lady Chargers held a 6-5 lead and went on a 16-0 run, fueled by a pair of buckets by Rudd, a three-point play by Briana Cortez and a 3 by Krista Lopez to take a 17-point lead.
Hanna’s Mia Paz hit a 3 to end the run and finished with three 3s in the quarter, but Brownsville Veterans led 23-13.
During the second quarter, Hanna started with a 5-0 run, highlighted by a three-point play by Pamela Ellis. The Lady Eagles continued to chip at the lead, as the Lady Chargers failed to hit a field goal. Later, Mia Paz hit a jumper to pull within 28-26.
Brownsville Veterans had to rely on the charity stripe and didn’t have a field goal until there was lees than one minute left in the half. Rudd had a pair of buckets to end the half and give the Lady Chargers a 32-26 lead.
“It was tough, we gave them a big lead in the beginning,” Hanna coach Luis Gonzalez said. “We climbed back but never got that one or two baskets to take the lead, that was big. They did a good job when we made that run (in the second quarter), but they always made a shot (to hold onto the lead).”
During the third quarter, Brownsville Veterans had a 5-0 run between a pair of buckets by Ellis, but neither team pulled away. Paz hit another 3 to pull within 45-42, but Meyers came up big with a few baskets in the post and hit a stepback 3 to help push the lead to seven heading to the fourth quarter.
“I would give the game ball to Krista for her defense, she shut down Mia (in the second half),” Valentin Paz said.
Cortez had a bucket and a free throw to push the lead back to 10 to start the fourth, and the Lady Chargers held the Lady Eagles at bay the rest of the way.
“We never could get that one defensive stop, and I think that was the difference in the game,” Gonzalez said. “I know they shot a high percentage on free throws without even looking at the book. But we never got over that hump, never got that defensive stop we needed.”
Mia Paz finished with 16 points — including four 3s — but had only three after halftime to lead Hanna. Ellis finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, and Reischeel Ocampo had eight points, including two 3s.
Cortez finished with 16 points and Lopez added seven points and four steals for the Lady Chargers.
Valentin Paz was proud of the way his offense got going but commended his defense for jumping out to an early lead and making the difference.
“It was our defense that got us that lead (in the first quarter),” he said. “We went on a 15-6 run to finish because of our defense. I think our defense won this game for us.”
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.