By JUAN ESTEVE
Special to the NEWS
RIO HONDO—The fierce Rio Hondo Lady ‘Cats faced-off against the Port Isabel Lady Tarpons on Monday in a home game that was heavily lopsided in favor of Rio Hondo.
After the second period, the final score was 65-36, marking a tremendous confident victory for the home team in the district 32-4A Region IV finale. The Lady Cats’ were already having a better district season (12-2) than Port Isabel (9-5) before the game began.
At the beginning of the game, it was the Lady ‘Cats who got the first possession but lost the ball in a steal right away. Then Port Isabel lost the ball in a wrong pass and made a foul on Rio Hondo’s Amanda Gomez (#10), who put up the first points for the Lady ‘Cats from the free throws line, making the score 1-0. Then Port Isabel missed a long shot, and Rio Hondo scored on a fast-break to make it 3-0, then with 5:20 into the first, Eliza Rodriguez (#3) made the score 6-2 for Rio Hondo.
Once again, Rodriguez scored a double to make it 10-2 in favor of the Lady’ Cats. Thus, the game was taking shape for the home team, to which the Lady Tarpons answered with a triple by Whitney Zaloski (#12), making it 10-5 and staying in the game for the rest of the period.
Then, the game got tied up 10-10 after the first eight minutes of play.
Still, in the second period, the home team took advantage of many missed shots by Port Isabel. With back-to-back baskets from Rodriguez and Gomez, the Lady ‘Cats jumped ahead in the game 17-12 with 4:36 minutes left in the second period.
The score got stretched when Rio Hondo’s Natalie Martinez (#15) scored a two-point basket and put the scoreboard 22-15, with 3:53 left in the second period. That difference only increased the rest of the period with Rio Hondo outscoring Port Isabel 5-1 during the last four minutes. Still, that difference was enhanced by the Lady ‘Cats, who firmly increased their lead at the end of the third period.
The score, now 42-20, was unreachable for the Lady Tarpons.
Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length. To read the full story, click here or make sure to grab a copy of the Feb. 14 – Feb. 20, 2020 issue of the NEWS.
Recent Comments