KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star
LA FERIA — After a sluggish start in the first half, La Feria found their form and used a strong third quarter to breeze past Santa Maria 41-18 Thurs-day night in La Feria.
The Lionettes led 17-8 at the half and held the Lady Cougars’ offense in check for their fourth consecutive victory.
“We got into some foul trouble in the first half,” said La Feria coach Angel Martinez. “When we get into foul trouble we have to tone back our defense and that is something we’re not use to doing. When we slow down our defense it slows down our offense and we can’t go as fast as we’d like.”
La Feria saw their offense sputter in the first half and struggled from the floor. Myah Salas, who had been on a role the last few weeks, only scored one point in the first half and finished the evening with six points.
On a night where the Lionettes offense was not on point, La Feria needed a spark and got one right out of the gate in the second half from Karina Diaz. The Lionettes began the third quarter on a 9-0 run to take a commanding 26-8 lead.
Diaz provided the pop for La Feria while netting a game high 10 points, while teammate Kayla Lowe directed the offense and scored five points in the win.
“Defensively we were not talking in the first half,” Lowe said. “In the second half we talked more and picked up the tempo and our offense fed off of it and we were able to get rolling. We have some time off, but we will continue to work and get better.”
La Feria wound up out-scoring Santa Maria 13-4 in the third quarter and continued to control the tempo in the final quarter. With the win, La Feria has now won four in a row and will have a five-day break.
Their next opponent will be against Corpus Christi King at Corpus next Thursday. Meanwhile, Santa Maria will have a date with Brownsville Frontier on Dec 29.