Battles carries Lopez past P.I.

It’s early in the season, but so far no team has found an answer for Lopez’s Amanda Battles.

The senior point guard tied her season-high with 35 points and 14 steals to lead the Lady Lobos over the Port Isabel Lady Tarpons66-36 on Tuesday night at Lopez.

So far this season, Battles has had games of 20- and 35-point performances and is averaging 12 steals per game, helping the Lady Lobos to a 2-1 start.

"She is a player," Port Isabel coach Alan Ward said. "She wore us out this game and is a good one."

Celina Garcia added 13 points, pouring in seven of those within the first two minutes of the game.

Battles scored 23 first-half points, helping Lopez to a 36-16 halftime advantage.

Port Isabel opened the third quarter with two quick buckets by Oce Guera and Wendy Flores to cut the deficit to 36-20, but the momentum was short-lived.

Battles started an 11-0 run for Lopez with nine points coming from the senior floor general before the Lady Tarpons’ Brittney Lerma scored a layup with 3:35 left in the game.

"Overall, I’m happy the way we played but we need to play four quarters, not two or three," Lopez coach Minnie Tarbet said. "Battles had a good game, she put pressure on the ball up the court and scored well. "

Gaby Gonzalez led Port Isabel with seven points, and Lerma contributed five.

Louie Vera covers girls high school basketball for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at lvera@brownsvilleherald.com.