Mission High girls defend their title at Tommie Wiseman

LA FERIA — The Mission Lady Eagles used a little inspiration heading into their championship game against La Feria in the Tommie Wiseman Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

“The girls read the newspaper today and were pumped up about defending their title,” said Mission head coach Rene Garza.

Well it worked as they won their second straight tournament title by defeating the Lionettes 54-38.

“Our attitude was real good coming into this game and the girls were very focused,” said Garza. “Offensively I feel we picked up the pace early on and hit some big three-pointers that got the momentum going.

“Then we were able to go inside and attack the paint as much as possible and it worked. I am very proud of the girls and winning this championship gives us tons of confidence heading into district play.”

Mission (12-4) came out firing from the get-go as Alexandria Cedillo nailed four straight three-pointers giving the Lady Eagles a 13-12 lead with 1:33 left in the first quarter.

The Lady Eagles extended their lead to 25-16 with 4:19 left in the second quarter as tournament MVP Dalia Camargo scored five of the 12 points during their 12-4 run. However, La Feria (9-7) cut the lead to five at the half as Ashley Gonzales and Brittany Alaniz hit back-to-back buckets late in the second quarter.

Mission answered back in the third quarter as they continued to dominate inside, thus extending their lead to 36-23 with 4:12 left in the quarter. La Feria got to within eight as they went on a 9-4 run with 7:16 left in the game. But Mission kicked it into high gear as they ended the quarter outscoring La Feria 14-6.

“We started off real cold shooting yesterday against Mercedes and we wanted to set the tempo early on,” said Camargo. “We were fired up coming into this game and wanted it even more than last year.

“Also, it feels great to win another MVP award since I received the same honor here last year.”

La Feria head coach Yolanda Luster said that her team couldn’t seem to get into a rhythm.

“Today was just not our day,” said Luster. “We missed some key shots and Mission got going offensively early on. But they are an excellent team and very well coached. Camargo is a great player and it is very hard to slow her down.

“However I am proud of the effort put forth by the girls. We only had seven girls come back from last year’s team and four key players are injured right now. But we got back to the championship game and gave it all we had.”

Tommie Wiseman Tournament
GIRLS
At La Feria
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Mercedes 52, Santa Rosa 45
La Joya 63, Rio Hondo 58
Lyford 46, Roma 42
Mission 57, La Joya Palmview 23
PSJA Memorial 52, Edcouch-Elsa, 47
Valley View 45, Progreso 25
La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 55, Rio Grande City 44
La Feria 64, La Villa 16
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Championship quarterfinals
PSJA Memorial 36, Valley View 33
La Feria 58, Juarez-Lincoln 21
Mercedes 75, La Joya 58
Mission 34, Lyford 16
Championship semifinals
Mission 55, Mercedes 37
La Feria 55, PSJA Memorial 33
Fifth-place bracket
Valley View def. Juarez-Lincoln
La Joya def. Lyford
Consolation quarterfinals
E-E def. Progreso
RGC def. La Villa
Santa Rosa def. Rio Hondo
Palmview def. Roma
Consolation semifinals
Santa Rosa def. Palmview
RGC def. E-E
Guaranteed games
Progreso def. La Villa
Roma def. Rio Hondo
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Championship game: Mission 54, La Feria 38
Third-place game: Mercedes 59, PSJA Memorial 55
Consolation final: Santa Rosa 51, RGC 47
Fifth-place final: La Joya 62, Valley View 51