By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
St. Joseph Academy’s Diana Garcia shifted the momentum in a back-and-forth game against Port Isabel.
With the Lady Bloodhounds clinging to a two-point lead early in the fourth quarter, Garcia completed a four-point play after being fouled while hitting a 3 from the right wing to shift momentum and helped her team pull away from the Lady Tarpons 49-40 in a non-district game Friday at St. Joseph.
“I was excited,” Garcia said. “I felt confident and I passed the confidence to my teammates, the confidence that we could win.”
In the final quarter, Garcia put the wheels in motion for St. Joseph, but Port Isabel used a tough defense to close the gap and got within 43-40 on a bucket by Gabby Murchison. The Lady Bloodhounds picked up their defensive pressure and got six straight points — a basket and two pairs of free throws — down the stretch from Carolina Del Pozo to seal the victory.
“Diana has been doing that for four years,” St. Joseph coach Cynthia Martinez said. “Somebody starts to get momentum and she feels that and takes it away with one shot, it’s amazing to me.
“That (shot) was huge.”
Garcia scored a team-high 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and had four steals to lead the way for St. Joseph, who outscored Port Isabel 17-10 in the final quarter. The Lady Tarpons had some chances, but couldn’t pull even late in the game.
“We got ahead of ourselves when the game was in reach,” Port Isabel coach Blake Ramsey said. “We got a little over anxious and tried to push the ball when we didn’t need to.”
It was a close game throughout.
Garcia had seven points in the first quarter as St. Joseph took an 11-9 lead after the opening quarter.
In the second quarter, Jasmine Saldivar hit a 3-pointer to give Port Isabel a 12-11 lead, but the Lady Bloodhounds pulled away as Valeria Tapia came off the bench to score five points including a 3 to take an 18-14 advantage. St. Joseph extended its lead with back-to-back buckets by Grisele Sampaso to push it to 24-16 shortly before the break.
The Lady Bloodhounds changed defensively after the first quarter and it worked out.
“I think we were trying to out think ourselves,” Martinez said of her team playing in a zone defense. “When we went to man-to-man, there’s no time to think, so I think that helped us because the kids are so good naturally. When you take the brain out of the equation, it became more instinctive. I think that helped us.”
St. Joseph took a 10-point lead in the third quarter after a Del Pozo basket, but the Lady Tarpons went on an 8-0 run to pull within two points ahead of the final quarter.
Ramsey was pleased with his team’s defensive effort, especially with district starting next week.
“That was key for us, we made some key stops at some key times,” he said. “St. Joseph is a good team, well-coached. I love playing against teams like that; it’s like a chess match. We were on the same page defensively and we worked together as a team and made adjustments.
“We played our most complete game, so going into district bodes well.”
Murchison led Port Isabel with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Saldivar finished with seven points, four rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists and Kenedy Martinez chipped in five points a couple rebounds for the Lady Tarpons.
Tapia, Del Pozo and Sampaso each finished with eight points apiece for St. Joseph. Tapia added six rebounds and four steals, Del Pozo had four rebounds and Ceci de la Garza finished with seven steals for the Lady Bloodhounds.
St. Joseph doesn’t face district opponents until January, but its confident heading into district play.
“We’ve done a lot of work, but we still have some timing issues to take care of, but we’ll be ready for district,” Martinez said. “This is the best I’ve felt going into district in the last three years.”
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.