By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — There is now a tie atop TAPPS 5A District 4 standings after the Brownsville St. Joseph Lady Bloodhounds defeated the Incarnate Word Academy Lady Angels 55-39 on Wednesday.
“It was a huge win for us,” Lady Bloodhounds coach Robert Moreno said. “Going into this game, (IWA was) up one game on us, so it was important to take care of business at home.”
The Lady Bloodhounds started off aggressive by pressing the Lady Angels, forcing turnovers and scoring easy buckets because of their aggression.
Sophomore Regina Tovar, senior Natalia Montemayor and senior twin sisters Lucia Gonzalez and Alejandra Gonzalez all got easy baskets in their 12-0 run to start the game.
“I think we proved that we really wanted to get this win, and we ended the game well,” Tovar said.
The Lady Angels had a few opportunities on fast breaks because of the press early in the quarter. They had the numbers at times, but the Lady Bloodhounds recovered well enough to only give up a single basket in transition.
“We did a great job on defense,” Lucia Gonzalez said. “We wanted to come out with a win, and we knew we had to hustle for it until the end.”
During the second quarter, Tovar hit a 3-pointer and Montemayor followed to extend St. Joseph’s lead to 18-4. After a couple of quick Lady Angels scores, Tovar swished a nice step-back 3-pointer to give her team the 21-8 lead halfway through the second quarter.
The Lady Bloodhounds went into the half up 25-14.
It was more of the same from St. Joseph during the third quarter. Lucia and Alejandra Gonzalez forced turnovers that led to easy points, and junior Andrea Jasso came off the bench and got some points in the paint.
The Lady Angels had their moments in the game. Lily Brown, Ella Goodman, Emma Romanczyk, Talayah Chanyaman and McKenna Lutz played tough but were a little too sloppy with the ball.
A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Lutz to end the third quarter gave the Lady Angels life after the Lady Bloodhounds went up big. Lutz’s shot cut the lead to 11.
Jasso responded to begin the fourth with a short-range jumper in the paint, and senior Elise Esparza intercepted a pass and went coast-to-coast for the layup to put St. Joseph up 46-31 early in the fourth.
Next Wednesday, the Lady Bloodhounds will be in Victoria to face the St. Joseph Flyers.