(Courtesy photo/Albert Villegas)
By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
The San Benito Lady Greyhounds will use Tuesday’s non-district home loss against the McAllen Nikki Rowe Lady Warriors as a stepping stone to fine-tune their play, said head coach Abel Moreno after the game.
On Tuesday at home, San Benito fell, 60-46 to a high-octane Nikki Rowe team that scored at will. It was the Lady ‘Hounds’ most lopsided loss this season, which has produced a 10-6 record. Nikki Rowe improved to 18-1.
“We’re still working on things defensively and some of the girls are working to play at the varsity level,” Moreno said. “I’m actually happy with the way we played because it showed we are looking to execute on offense, but it’s our defense that still needs work.”
The teams were tied at two, early on, but the rest of the game went the way of the Lady Warriors, who led 12-3 at the end of the first quarter, and 30-15 at halftime.
San Benito had its best showing in the final quarter, and was within a dozen on three different occasions.
Turnovers doomed the Lady ‘Hounds, however, and it resulted in points on the offensive end.
San Benito senior Angelina Reyes led with 16 points. Senior Valerie Vela added 13 and senior Jade Maya scored all of her seven points in the final quarter.
The Lady Warriors came into the game winners of seven consecutive games; their dominance was evident as they outscored their opponents by an average of 21 points.
Rowe’s last loss came by a 60-52 score against Northside Lee, which is in San Antonio.
Comparatively, San Benito has played seven teams from outside the Rio Grande Valley. In fact, the Lady ‘Hounds, during tournament play this month, defeated The Colony, which is located near Dallas, and lost to Killeen Chaparral.
Other losses came to Harlingen South and Harvest Christian, of Edinburg.
Earlier this month, San Benito bounced back from back-to-back losses, the first time it has suffered two consecutive setbacks in a row. The win over San Antonio Brackenridge, which fell to 6-9 with the loss, was much needed for the Lady ‘Hounds at the time.
Last year, San Benito defeated Rowe by a 40-37 margin.
Entering its game against Rowe, San Benito’s offense had been paced by Reyes with an 18-points-per-game average. The offensive prowess has been aided by her knack for grabbing defensive rebounds. She leads San Benito with 3.7 defensive rebounds per game.
Second in both categories is Maya. In 13 games, Maya has averaged 8.3 points per game, and she has grabbed 2.8 defensive rebounds on average per game.
Maya also leads the Lady ‘Hounds with three assists per game. Reyes trails her in this statistical category with 2.8.
Among the other players who are averaging at least four points per game are Vela (5.8 per), Kalista Olivares (4.1 per), and Kayla Rodriguez (4.1 per).
Unfortunately, Reyes and Maya also lead the squad in turnovers with just over three per game.
SEASON AT A GLANCE:
Nov. 2: Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial, won 43-30
Nov. 5: Harlingen South, lost 40-30
Nov. 7: Corpus Christi Moody, won 61-55
Nov. 7: Killeen Chaparral, lost 55-36
Nov. 8: Corpus Christi Miller, won 51-46
Nov. 8: Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial, won 44-33
Nov. 9: The Colony (Denton County), won 41-32
Nov. 12: Edcouch-Elsa, won 74-19
Nov. 14: PSJA Memorial, won 59-19
Nov. 15: Mercedes, won 52-19
Nov. 15: McAllen, won 65-37
Nov. 16: Harvest Christian, lost 57-43
Nov. 19: St. Joseph Academy, lost 43-40
Nov. 21: San Antonio Brackenridge, won 52-48
Nov. 26: McAllen Nikki Rowe, lost 60-46.
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