BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Weslaco’s Griselda Fino didn’t carry herself like a winning basketball coach Tuesday night at Edinburg Vela High School.
Though her Lady Panthers came away with a 45-37 win over the Lady Sabercats, Fino couldn’t help but dwell on the negatives.
“We missed a lot of easy shots,” Fino said. “We kind of got down on ourselves. I think we lost our focus.”
The game was a rematch from last week’s Border Bash tournament which saw Weslaco win comfortably by double digits.
The Lady Panthers looked as if they would repeat history in the first half. The team generated 17 turnovers and dominated the boards en route to a 31-16 halftime lead.
Junior forward Amy Garcia scored eight of her 11 points in the game’s first quarter, cherry picking for easy buckets behind Vela’s porous defense.
“It’s not like we didn’t have the personnel to compete,” Vela head coach Lottie Zarate said. “We just had girls out there standing around and watching the game.”
Vela responded in the second half, however, cutting Weslaco’s lead to five points. The score was 37-32 with four minutes left in the game. Lady Sabercats senior guard Ariel Rodriguez led the charge, scoring 12 of her team’s 23 second half points.
“Her senior leadership on the floor and being able to keep her composure on the floor, that’s what we need,” Zarate said.
Rodriguez finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting.
Though Vela (4-4) sniffed an upset, the team couldn’t complete the comeback due in part to suspect free throw shooting near the game’s end. The team shot 9-of-18 from the charity stripe on the night.
The Lady Sabercats also gave away many possessions, committing 30 turnovers..
Vela’s sophomore point guard Jaida Muhammad was responsible for eight turnovers, and was often frustrated by the defense of Weslaco’s stand-out guard Angela Villarreal.
“I told my girls games like this will prepare us for district play,” Zarate said. “This is a good team to get better against.”
Though Villarreal defended well, her offense never came to her. She finished with nine points on 2-of-12 shooting, and 3-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Villarreal’s offensive struggles mirrored Weslaco’s second half woes. The Lady Panthers missed several shots around the rim and lost their significant rebounding advantage. Though forward Maegan Peraiz led all players with 10 boards, nine of those came in the first half.
“I don’t know what happened to her (in the second half),” Fino said. “I just don’t know.”
Peraiez was never a factor in the second half, and fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Vela’s resurgence came thanks to its rediscovered rebounding abilities. The Lady Sabercats mustered a measly seven boards in the first half, but grabbed 26 in the second and took control of the game’s tempo.
Though Weslaco held off the upset bid, Fino vows her Lady Panthers (11-1) will learn from the close victory.
“We’ll regroup, and refocus after this.” Fino said. “We have to play better, bottom line.”