By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The St. Joseph Academy Lady Bloodhounds began a new basketball season with a down-to-the wire 42-41 victory at Hanna on Tuesday.
Although the SJA girls took the lead for good with 3 1/2 minutes left in the opening period and appeared to a have a fairly comfortable 12-point lead, 30-18, entering the final quarter, the determined Lady Golden Eagles came back to make quite a game of it.
Starting some new players after graduating several key performers from last season’s stellar 34-3 team, the Lady Bloodhounds endured some anxious moments down the stretch as Hanna cut the lead to one point three times during the fourth quarter. Still, they prevailed, showing their coach promise for the season to come.
“It’ll be a good season if I don’t have a heart attack (before it ends),” said SJA coach Cynthia Martinez, who is now in her 17th year of guiding the Lady Bloodhounds.
“There was a lot of drama (to this one),” she added with a smile.
The Lady Bloodhounds led 14-10 after one quarter and 24-14 at intermission. Their biggest lead of 13 points, 30-17, came at the 2:31 mark of the third quarter when Valeria Tapia drove for a layup.
Hanna rallied and closed the gap to 40-39 when Dahlia Reyes hit a jump shot with 38.7 seconds left. Forced to foul, the Lady Eagles put Tapia on the line with 16.9 seconds to play, and she sank both free throws to give her team a 42-39 lead. Hanna’s Miranda Ortiz netted a jumper from the left side, inside the three-point line, at the buzzer to make it 42-41.
“It’s early on in the season, and there’s still a lot of basketball left, but I was proud of the way our girls came back after being down by 12 points (entering the final period),” Hanna coach Luis Gonzalez said. “The girls didn’t show any quit in them. They played a lot better in the second half , and some shots fell for us.
“There’s a lot of basketball left, and I’m just happy with the way they came back tonight,” Gonzalez added. “We’ll be ready to play.”
Tapia led SJA with 20 points, including seven during the last quarter. Teammate Allison Alvarez contributed 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Taylor Cano led Hanna with 17 points. Janet Adame added seven points, including a 3-pointer.