BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
EDINBURG — During their first meeting of the season, McAllen Memorial used strong defense and five 3-pointers to down Edinburg High in the Mid-Valley Classic championship game on Nov. 11 in Weslaco.
On Tuesday night, the Mustangs made five 3-pointers in the first quarter but didn’t have the firepower throughout the game to keep up with the Bobcats. Edinburg exacted its revenge in a convincing 55-37 home victory.
“That was a hard loss for us at Weslaco. We were drained, but that’s no excuse,” Edinburg High junior guard Jenessah Santa Maria said. “Today, we came out with a strong mentality. We were going to go hard, and we’re not going to stop. Everything we did, we did with a lot more intensity.”
“It’s a big difference for us when we have fresh legs,” Edinburg High coach J.D. Salinas said. “I thought the girls came out with more energy. Our big girls did an excellent job today. We didn’t shoot the ball all too well from the outside, but our presence underneath the basket helped. I’m glad we were able to come out and play good basketball tonight.”
The teams were within single digits of each other through the first 12 minutes, but the Bobcats (13-3) made their move in the third quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 17-4 and forcing them to miss all three of their 3-point attempts in the quarter.
“They adjusted their defense further out, and we weren’t getting any movement,” McAllen Memorial coach Clarisse Arredondo said. “We weren’t attacking the defense. The last two games, we’ve been kind of sluggish in the third quarter. We’re trying to figure out why third quarters have been rough for us lately.”
“We knew who the shooter was, and we stayed on them,” Santa Maria said. “Coach wanted us to sync their guards to the middle, chase them down, and it worked.”
Senior Jayla Santa Maria scored 14 points for the Bobcats, who had two other players reach double-figure scoring — Jayla’s sister Jenessah (13 points) and sophomore Brianna Sanchez (10 points). Memorial (7-5) was led by Tani Talamantez’s 15 points.
The Bobcats and Mustangs will both hit the road to compete in the North East ISD basketball tournament, which begins Thursday in San Antonio. McAllen Memorial and Edinburg will be joined by fellow Valley programs Weslaco East, Weslaco High and Harlingen High.
“We had the same schedule as we had last year,” Salinas said. “32-6A is a loaded district all the way down, and now it just so happens that some of them are going to the same tournament.”
McAllen Memorial will meet Harlingen High in a pool play game on Friday in San Antonio.
“We play games like these to get better,” Arredondo said. “At the end of the day, I won’t care about the record I have in the preseason. It’s all about how we do in district and how we finish. These games are stepping stones for the future.”