BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
MISSION — The penultimate play during a back-and-forth final quarter of play came via a baseline jumper by Laredo Nixon senior Jennifer Peña. The shot gave the Mustangs a one-point lead, but the Patriots had 4.8 seconds left on the clock to get a good enough look to steal the game right back.
The Patriots didn’t get a shot off in their final possession, losing to the Mustangs 56-55 on Tuesday night.
“We had to go the length of the court and we wanted to get the ball far enough up the court to take a good shot,” Mission Veterans coach Rafael Cantu Jr. said. “The middle was open but we just threw the ball in a little too deep and had to chase it down. We almost had a shot. We almost executed and pulled it off.”
Mission Veterans (14-11, 4-1) came out firing from deep in the first half, hitting five 3-pointers to take a 35-23 lead into the locker room. The Mustangs, whose size and 10-player rotation all saw action in the first half, came back after halftime and sliced the Patriots lead to five heading into the fourth quarter.
“They’re bigger,” Cantu Jr. said. “The girls know we’re not big, so I told them that we had to play bigger which means playing with an edge and grittiness that would sort of level the playing field a bit.”
Mission Veterans’ five-man rotation started to feel fatigued early in the fourth quarter, falling behind 48-45 halfway through the period.
“This was an up and down game,” Mission Veterans sophomore Ronnie Cantu said. “It’s a matter of pacing yourself and slowing the game down enough to where our team can gradually create some offense.”
“Not coming out of the game is hard,” Mission Veterans junior Jackie Howell said. “But you play through the fatigue knowing the team needs you as one of the go-to players. You want to help the team win, so I had to stay out there the whole game.”
Cantu finished with 12 points including a layup that gave Mission Veterans a 53-52 lead. Howell, who led her teammates with 24, rolled in a bucket to put the Patriots up three with 53 seconds remaining.
However, a quick steal and layup plus Peña’s jumper with 4.8 seconds left were enough for the Mustangs (19-6, 4-0) to remain undefeated in Tuesday’s meeting of unbeaten teams in District 31-5A. Peña scored 24 points on the night.
“I’m disappointed we lost because I knew there was no reason we couldn’t win tonight,” Cantu Jr. said. “We have the team good enough to play with Nixon and beat Nixon. They’ve got a great team, but we’re pretty good too. Sometimes, the chips don’t fall your way.”