Lottie Zarate molds young Santa Rosa squad into district champs

A second-year coach and a freshman point guard might not seem like the ideal recipe for success.
However, after just missing the playoffs in her first year at the helm of the Santa Rosa Lady Warriors, Lottie Zarate guided a young team to a share of the District 32-2A title and the school's first postseason win.
"It was a very surprising season, we were a very young team," Zarate said. "We were very inexperienced. It went all beyond all our expectations."
After a 25-9 season and the first trip to the playoffs in four seasons, Zarate was named as the VMS 2007-08 Coach of the Year.
With only one senior (Chelsea Vela), Zarate had to rely on youngsters like Anika Lopez and Diamond Caballero.
"Diamond was fearless," Zarate said. "Nobody was intimidated even when we were going up against senior ballclubs."
The Lady Warriors also won their first playoff game in school history with a 61-59 victory over Bloomington.
In a town that takes basketball so seriously that every house has a three-point arc at the bottom of the driveway, that's a big step in the right direction.
"I believe it was a big deal for us to win that playoff game, because it made the girls programs at Santa Rosa believe they can do it, too," Zarate said. "I think we are kind of overshadowed by our boys program, and it was nice to have some recognition for our girls program."
In the second round of the playoffs, the Lady Warriors ran into Poth, which was on it's way to repeating as Class 2A state champions.
However, Zarate has already been preparing her squad for such tough contests.
"We're going to be play Class 4A and Class 5A teams to get us ready for district play," Zarate said.
The Lady Warriors played a fairly tough schedule this past season, including a game against Class 5A playoff team San Benito and at first it had a little bit of a negative affect on the squad.
"You could see they were worried about losing a lot at first," Zarate said. "But once district started they started to understand. You could see it in their faces as their morale went up."
She added:
"It doesn't matter how the preseason is, it's just a preparation for district and playing the bigger schools is a more physical game."
Zarate played for Nora Zamarripa, while at Edinburg and said she learned a lot from the current Harlingen Lady Cardinals' coach.
"She's very disciplined and stresses defense," Zarate said of her former mentor.
Zarate first started coaching as a varsity assistant at Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North, where she was also influenced by long-time coach Jaime Gongora.
"He's so knowledgeable, he's a like a book of plays," she said.