BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
PSJA North doesn’t play catch-up often. With a 29-3 record before Tuesday’s regular season finale against Edinburg High, the Lady Raiders had lost to just two Valley teams this season — Harlingen High and twice to Weslaco High.
But North experienced a case of the late-season blues against the Lady Bobcats. They trailed by 12 points during the first half, only to see its offense sputter as three players fouled out. The Lady Raiders’ uneven play resulted in a 64-52 loss and a tie for the second seed in District 31-6A with Edinburg.
“Every team has a defining moment,” coach Randy Bocanegra said. “And they had one last night. (Edinburg) played up to the moment and they got the big win they needed.”
Despite the loss, PSJA North won the post-game coin flip to remain the two seed. The Lady Raiders will face Harlingen South next week on the road in a bi-district game, a matchup Bocanegra thinks favors his squad.
“They like to press, play full court man-to-man,” Bocanegra said. “I think that plays to our favor. We don’t want to slow down games. We want to play up tempo. When we can shoot well, it opens up those driving lanes.”
Though North ranks among the Valley’s best offensive units, its has not been as consistent as it was a year ago. A large part of the team’s production comes from senior forward Belle Palacios, who averages nearly 20 points per game. An undersized player for her position — Palacios is 5-foot-4 — her aggressive nature at times gets the better of her, as it did against Edinburg.
After the Lady Raiders took a two-point lead in the third quarter, Palacios was relegated to the bench after fouling out. From there, North’s offense lost much of its spark.
“Belle steps up to the pressure when we need her to produce, score, be smart and manage her time,” Bocanegra said. “That’s a lot of pressure, that might have had something to do with it. She was playing with urgency.”
‘WHAT REALLY MATTERS’
With his team’s post season fate in the balance, Roma coach Romeo Rios is mum regarding his game plan for Friday’s District 31-5A play-in game against Edinburg Vela at Sharyland High School.
But he knows now is as good a time as any for his Lady Gladiators to play their way to bi-district date with Mercedes.
“Usually, everything comes together at the end of the season for us,” Rios said. “We start getting three girls averaging 10 points, the rest of the underclassmen start filling in their roles nicely. We just hope for the best. Throughout a 30-game season, we do have our bad games.”
And their worst game came at the hands of the SaberCats, who beat Roma 49-20 on Jan. 22.
Aside from that blemish, the Lady Gladiators have held their own in 31-5A, including a sweep of Mission Veterans.
“Those games remind our girls that we can play with everyone one in our district,” Rios said. “That does have an impact on our girls. We won by two points over Mission Vets, and Friday may come down to that slim a margin. Hopefully we come through in those situations. This is what really matters, playing good ball at the latter part of the season.”