BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
HIDALGO — A week ago, Weslaco High failed to make the championship game in last Saturday’s Mid-Valley Classic in Weslaco and needed a last-second steal to stave off McAllen Memorial four days earlier.
The Panthers entered this weekend’s highly-competitive Border Brawl Tournament in Hidalgo and appeared to turn the corner away from its uncharacteristic first week, winning its first five games to reach the Platinum Bracket championship game at Valley View Gym. But the Panthers fell 48-46 to Class 4A San Antonio Veterans in the title game on Saturday afternoon.
“I think we’ve taken a big leap since Tuesday,” Weslaco High senior guard Emily Saenz said. “Offensively and defensively, we know our roles on the floor. Coming to this tournament and playing these tough teams, we’ve grown more as a team because we talk to each other and we knew our defensive assignments.”
“We know what we have and we’re striving to put the right people on the floor,” Weslaco High coach Griselda Fino said. “It’s taking us a little bit longer than we expected but we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
As for the championship game, Weslaco (12-2) jumped out to a 21-9 lead on San Antonio Veterans three minutes into the second quarter, but Veterans slowly chipped away at the lead to close the half. The Panthers were up 24-20 at the break.
The Patriots continued their charge in the second half, taking a 29-28 lead on successful and-1 opportunity by Veterans’ Charlene Mass.
“It felt like we came out of the gates running as the underdogs and we were the underdogs,” Fino said. “Our girls went out there relentlessly and they had no fear attacking the basket. Once we got that lead, our girls began to pull back a little bit and said, ‘Ok, maybe we do belong here and we need to be more careful.’ We stopped attacking the basket, crashing the boards and playing some gritty defense. I think that’s what hurt us.”
Saenz did her best to keep the Panthers in the fourth quarter, scoring nine points in a row to force four ties with the Patriots. Saenz ended the afternoon with a game-high 23 points.
Facing a 43-41 deficit with under two minutes remaining, Weslaco sophomore guard Kirsten Padilla nailed a 3-pointer to put the Panthers up one. After the Patriots made two free throws to retake the lead, Panthers forward Illiyah Cantu was called for an offensive foul on the next possession. Veterans made its free throws and walked out with the Platinum Bracket championship.
“That falls on me,” Fino said. “We work on free throws every day at practice, but we’re obviously not doing the right things. I need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we can finish free throws late in games. That was the difference in the two-point contest.”