Lady Hawks hold on to win over Edinburg High in 31-5A

EDINBURG – Harlingen South coach Dawn Engleman told her players Friday night that earning approval from her was going to be a hard-earned task.

It didn’t matter that her Lady Hawks had just clinched at least a share of the District 31-5A title Friday with a 65-56 victory at Edinburg High. Engleman’s eyes were on a long playoff run and simply put, Friday’s effort was not going to get her team there.

“You have to put tough on them, especially when it’s a big ball game,” Engleman said. “We lost our focus. We are a much more mature team than we showed.”

Engleman meant business after her team lost its first district game since 2006 on Tuesday in overtime to Edinburg North. Easy praise just wasn’t going to happen Friday.

“We started off the way we needed to,” said Harlingen South’s Joslynn Benavides, who scored a game-high 26 points. “But we got careless with the ball at the end when we shouldn’t have. Coach E had every right to be mad at us.”

The Lady Hawks had a 52-37 lead and were seemingly in control heading into the fourth quarter. But the Lady Bobcats made a late run and closed the gap to within 56-48 on a 3-pointer by Bianca Casas – the first time Edinburg had been within single digits since the first quarter. The Lady Hawks answered with a 7-4 run over the next three minutes that sealed the game. Edinburg High outscored the Lady Hawks, 35-27, in the second half.

Harlingen South (28-3 season, 12-1 district), ranked No. 2 by Valley Freedom Newspapers, can clinch the title outright with a victory against crosstown rival Harlingen High on Tuesday.

Engleman was especially unhappy with her team’s 15 second half turnovers (after committing 10 in the first half).

“We started off playing with a lot of fluidity and within ourselves,” Engleman said. “At the end, we were committing turnover after turnover. The thing is, that’s going to matter in the playoffs.”

Benavides had 10 rebounds for game-high honors. Teammate Ariel Guevara had 15 points.

Fourth-ranked Edinburg High (25-7, 11-2) was led by Laura Torres’ 20 points. Casas had four 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. Casas and Micheline Mercelita each had a team-high six rebounds.

The Lady Hawks led 20-9 after the first quarter and 38-21 at halftime thanks to some relentless full-court pressure that forced 23 turnovers in the first two quarters and 33 for the game. Benavides helped fuel the Lady Hawks by scoring her team’s first eight points and 16 in the first half.

The Lady Bobcats, frustrated with the tremendous pressure, never got into any offensive rhythm. They were also shackled with foul trouble in the first half.

“We made the plays we needed to make and we still got the win and we were happy that we were able to redeem ourselves,” Benavides said.

David Hinojosa covers girls high school basketball for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442 or via e-mail at dhinojosa@themonitor.com