South wins sloppy opener

WESLACO — It was the opening game for both South and Weslaco, and it looked like it.

There were missed shots and enough turnovers to stock a couple of bakeries.

However, No. 1 Harlingen South found enough to turn back No. 5 Weslaco, 45-34, in the season opener for both teams on Tuesday night at the Domingo Sepulvada Athletic Complex.

The Lady Hawks got 16 points from Ari Perez, 10 from Miranda Garcia and nine from Tori Martinez.

It wasn’t a bad performance from South, who was missing three key players as Bianca Torre, Joslynn Benavides and Samantha Cano, who are all still playing volleyball.

But the game gave other Lady Hawks the opportunity to get some game action, which will come in useful down the road, South head coach Dawn Engleman said.

Perez came up big in the fourth quarter when Weslaco looked like it was going to take control.

“We just wanted it very bad,” said Engleman. “We played with plenty of pride and passion.”

Weslaco’s Kim Armstrong led all scorers with 20 points, but got little help.

“We made plenty of mistakes,” said Lady Panthers’ coach Griselda Fino. “We made too many turnovers and too many young mistakes.”

Both South and Weslaco are young teams.

The game was close until early in the fourth quarter. South led 14-11 after the first quarter and never trailed after that.

The Lady Hawks (1-0) extended their lead to 25-20 at the half. Armstrong scored 15 of the Lady Panthers’ first-half points. South lead 35-30 after three.

A basket by Weslaco’s Amber Polvado cut the lead to 35-32 just five seconds into the final stanza, however, that was as close as the Lady Panthers would get.

Perez scored six straight points, Garcia added a basket following a steal, Martinez added a basket and South had a 10-0 run, and the game was over.

“I’ve got to give credit to South,” Fino said. “They’re a great team. There the kind of team, we will face in the playoffs and that’s why we scheduled them.”

South’s defense picked it up a notch in the fourth quarter and held the Lady Panthers to just four points.

“It’s always going to be our defense that gets up back in games,” said Engleman. “It motivates us.”