Lady Hawks rally for big win against Lady Cougars

HARLINGEN — At one point late in the third quarter, it appeared that Edinburg North was well on their way to securing a playoff spot as they had an eight point lead and all of the momentum was in their favor.

As for Harlingen South, a loss would put them in a position where they would need some serious help just to secure the fourth spot.

Well, the Lady Hawks decided not to let that happen as they outscored Edinburg North 25-14 throughout the remainder of the contest and pulled out an impressive come from behind victory 57-54.

With the win, Harlingen South improves to 7-6 in district 31-5A and currently sits one game behind North for the third spot.

"Tonight the girls left everything out on that floor and played with passion and heart," said Harlingen South Dawn Engleman. "We played with abandonment in the fourth quarter and didn’t hold back. I knew they could do it and now we keep our hopes alive."

Harlingen South wasted no time getting on the board as Mariah Guevara hit a lay-up within the first ten seconds of the game giving them the early 2-0 lead.

However, Edinburg North became extremely aggressive inside and went on a 15-4 run to take a 15-6 lead with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.

South was finally able to end the Lady Cougars run as Gabby Cavazos scored back-to-back lay-ups to trim the lead to five (15-10) at the end of the first quarter.

Edinburg North’s Vicky Pena helped her team extend their lead to eight (20-12) as she scored all five points for her team early in the second quarter.

The Lady Hawks were able to get to within two (20-18) thanks to a 6-0 run with 4:09 left in the first half.

But North countered and took their biggest lead of the first half 30-18 as they continued to dominate underneath.

South did make one last ditch effort to cut into Edinburg North’s lead as they outscored them 6-1with less than a minute to plan and went into the locker room down 31-24 at the half.

Trailing by eight with 1:56 left in the third quarter, Harlingen South played like a team on a mission as they went on a monstrous 17-6 run to take their first lead since the first quarter 49-46 with 3:23 left in the game.

Cavazos played a huge role for the Lady Hawks as she scored eight of their 17 points during that run and led all scorers with 28 points on the night.

Edinburg North tried one last ditch effort to get back into the ball game, but the Lady Hawks hit a key free-throw which gave them a five point lead with 15 seconds left in the contest.

Next up for the Lady Hawks is a date with Edinburg on Tuesday which has major playoff implications. But Engleman feels if her team plays like they did in the fourth quarter, they will be successful.

"If we play with confidence and poise like we did late in the game, we will be able to win the ball game," said Engleman.