WESLACO — With the clock winding down and the eyes of the fans at Weslaco East High School fixated on her, Brownsville Veterans Memorial senior point guard Alexa Torres drained a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc.
It was not to win an important game at Weslaco’s Mid-Valley Classic. It was to win a 3-point shooting contest held on the second day of a tournament held at Weslaco High and Weslaco East.
“It was very nerve-wracking, I was nervous,” Torres said. “I feel like this is giving me more confidence going into our season, especially because it just started. It shows me the potential that I could have for the rest of the season.”
The contest provided a break from the grind of early season tournaments. The waits between games can be hours and usually players sprawl out along the stands, casually watching other teams play while they swipe through their phones.
Weslaco East head coach William Kromer brought the idea of the shooting contest from a tournament the Wildcats attend annually at Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway.
“I just felt like, we are in basketball country, let’s have some fun,” Kromer said. “Watching this was a lot of fun. I got a DJ that does our pep rallies, things like that, and just promoted basketball. Now, you got a bunch of little girls up there watching that, and they say, ‘Hey, I want to do that.’”
The contest did differ from what some sporting fans might see from a 3-point shooting contest during the NBA’s All-Star events, as there were no racks loaded with balls.
Instead, the shooters had seven spots spaced throughout the 3-point line and a final, game-winning, money-ball shot that was placed a couple of feet beyond the arc.
The shooters could not move to the next spot until they made the shot from the spot they were at. It resembled the shooting game ‘Around the world,’ but without the shots inside the arc.
The girls went head-to-head and had three balls that their teammates chased down to provide the assist. One girl shot on one side of the court, and the other shot on the other. Fans shifted their gaze back and forth during tense moments.
Torres defeated Weslaco High’s Isabella Magallanes to win the contest. Torres hit four straight shots to build a 5-2 lead. Torres reached the final shot and had plenty of time to spot up her shot.
“I think at first, everyone was kind of nervous,” Torres said. “It was a little hard to shoot at first, but once you get the momentum it was a lot easier. It feels amazing to be recognized and to be able to give recognition to our basketball program.”
The final did provide as much drama as some of the matches beforehand. Some of the shootouts went down to the wire and needed the money ball to decide the match.
Thirty-two girls competed in the shootout from the 16 teams participating. Torres defeated Mercedes’ Randi Lara and Magallanes beat Donna’s Serena Crawford to advance to the final.
The tournament resumes at 9 a.m. today and wraps up at 7:30 p.m. at Weslaco East with the platinum bracket championship match.