BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
EDINBURG — The Edinburg Lady Bobcats scored 18 fourth-quarter points at home to pull away from Edinburg Vela and down the Lady Sabercats 54-45 Tuesday night in a 31-6A district battle.
Edinburg scored 10 of its 18 final-period points from the free-throw line, going 10 for 13. Vela, meanwhile, went in the other direction, hitting just 2 of 9 from the charity stripe.
There were lots of contrasts in the game between the city rivals, but the free-throw shooting performance in the last quarter — after the game was tied at 35 after three periods — may have just done in the Lady Sabercats.
The two coaches said it. Players acknowledged it. The 700 raucous fans saw it.
“At the end of the game we hit free throws,” a relieved Edinburg coach John David Salinas said. “The fouls were even on both sides. We were just lucky to get a victory on our home floor. At the end of the game, we were just able to make a run. It could have really gone either way.”
Because the game went Edinburg’s way, it is now 2-0 in district play, while Vela falls to 1-1.
Edinburg junior guard Jayla Santa Maria led all scorers with 22 points, including going 8 of 12 on free throws, most of which came in the fourth quarter. Jennesah Santa Maria, a sophomore, added 16 more for the Bobcats.
Much of their scoring came in the second half. Edinburg hit a couple of shots to start the game but then went into a deep freeze. The Lady Bobcats scored just 7 points in the first quarter on 2-of-15 shooting. They were able to do a little better in the second but at one point were down 17-9 before getting to within 3 at the half.
After intermission, Vela went away from its passing game and rarely got the ball inside to its bigs despite first-half success. After scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds early, post Bianca Cortez did not attempt a field goal in the third and shot just twice in the fourth.
Flipping the court played well for the Bobcats, as they knotted the game after three.
“We continued to play hard. We picked up the energy, because that’s what we lacked most of the game,” Jayla Santa Maria said of Edinburg’s ability to get fast break hoops and points in the lane late in the game. “They outrebounded us. They have a lot of bigs, and Jaida (Muhammad) is a fast and good guard, but we stuck to our game plan and we were calm and focused and picked up the win.”
Edinburg opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run that closed with a Mercedes Hernandez three, and the Lady Bobcats never looked back. After that, they got to the free throw line and made their shots. Vela did not. But Vela also went cold from the floor in the fourth, hitting just 4 of 11 shots.
“We played a good ball club. It was expected that we would have a good game tonight, and we just got to keep moving and go to the next game and learn from it,” coach Lottie Zarate said. “But coming down to the end of the (game’s) stretch, we need to make sure that we have to be able to drop the free throws.”
Edinburg Vela was led by Cortez’s 16 points and 17 rebounds. Muhammad added 14 points.