Del Rio routs Rowe to end Lady Warriors' season
SAN ANTONIO — Fueled by its quickness and lethal outside shooting, Del Rio earned its first trip to the regional tournament by eliminating McAllen Rowe, 53-38, in a Class 5A regional quarterfinal on Tuesday at Lanier High School.
Del Rio (28-9) made six 3-pointers, including four in the first half. More importantly, its quickness on its full- and half-court traps forced numerous turnovers and never allowed the Lady Warriors to get into an offensive rhythm.
“Their length got us tonight,” Rowe coach Raul Vega said. “They got into the passing lanes really well. They caused a lot of turnovers, and I think that rattled us early in the game. We were never able to settle down and adjust to their quickness.”
Del Rio was led by Valeria Guevara’s 18 points. Guevara made three 3-pointers — all in the first half. She was followed by Aneya Torres’ 14 points. Kelsey Green had 10 rebounds to go with three points.
“We don’t have a true post so we are going to try to expose team by using our quickness,” Del Rio coach Jeffery Chatman said. “We felt like if we could pressure the ball, then our post play doesn’t matter as long we are keeping them running.”
Rowe (24-12) was led by Ashley Watson, who came off the bench and scored 10 points. However, it was senior Yarelli Rios who gave the Lady Warriors their biggest boost on the offensive end through her sheer determination on the boards and aggressiveness to the basket. She finished with nine points and eight rebounds. The Lady Warriors’ leading scorer, Ciaira Briseno, was held to three points.
“We just didn’t come out play,” Rios said. “We just didn’t show up enough to play.”
The game was close early, but a 13-0 run in the first half allowed Del Rio to build an 18-7 lead with 6:55 left in the second quarter. Guevara made two of her 3-pointers during that span. Del Rio expanded that to 23-11 thanks to Guervara’s third three at the 4:15 mark.
Rowe cut the lead to 25-19 following a free throw by Daniella Perez with 1:30 left. On the next possession, Del Rio held the ball as Rowe elected not to come out of its zone to guard. Leah Fisher scored with one second left in the first half to make the score 27-19.
Rowe came out in a man-to-man to start the second half, but Del Rio still found wide open spots from outside and Jazmin Torres and Green knocked down 3-pointers in the first 1:24 of the third quarter that made the score, 33-19.
“That was a lot of momentum,” Chatman said of the threes to begin the second half. “These girls feed off that momentum. Every time we hit a big shot, that defense is coming after you quick and fast.”
Del Rio slowly built their lead from there, and Rowe never cut it to less than 11 after that.
“I’m proud of the girls,” Vega said. “They fought. They played hard until the very end.”
Like Del Rio, Rowe was looking to make school history by qualifying for its first regional tournament. The Lady Warriors were in the regional quarterfinal round for the third time in the program’s history and for the first time since 2004.
Rowe advanced to third round of the playoffs and won its first district championship despite a 1-6 start to the season.
“We are the ‘Little Miracles’ because no one expected us to win (this season),” Rios said. “We just kept fighting and proved everybody wrong. We just went out there and played every game like it was our last.”
David Hinojosa covers girls high school basketball for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442 or via email at dhinojosa@themonitor.com.
