This season’s Valley Morning Star All-STAR Offensive Player of The Year recipient is no stranger to athletic achievement recognition.
Last year, La Feria’s Camryn Lopez won the very same award and was named the District 32-4A Offensive MVP.
Not much changed this season as Lopez once again claimed the All-STAR honor and was the 32-4A Offensive Player of the Year once again.
“I feel pretty proud of it because not a lot of people can say that,” said Lopez of winning consecutive back-to-back honors.
During the season, Lopez averaged 14.6, 3.5 rebounds, 2.28 steals and 3.6 assists per game.
“I’m so proud of Cam for getting back-to-back Offensive Player of The Year award,” said La Feria head coach Angel Martinez. “Her hard work and determination speaks volumes about her character. She’s a great leader and a perfect role model for younger players and future Lionettes.
“I’m so proud of her and she will be dearly missed next year.”
When asked what she was going to miss the most about playing for La Feria, Lopez’s simple response was: Practice.
“Coach Martinez makes practice fun and all the girls that I played with throughout the years,” she said. “Especially this year because I got to stay after practice and help the post or help the shooters that are coming up, and give them tips.
All-STAR Defensive Player of the Year
Standing at 4-foot-9, San Benito’s McKayla Guerra may not seem like the defensive nightmare she was to many opponents. However as the season progressed, her defensive veracity earned her a spot on the District 32-6A first team, a spot on the Rio Grande Valley Coaches Association’s All-Star game and, last but not least, was named this year’s All-STAR Defensive Player of The Year.
“I’m very grateful for the recognition. To be honest, defense is something I had worked for all offseason,” said Guerra. “During the offseason I told myself if I couldn’t be an offensive player and control my dribble then I needed to get stronger on defense, and I needed to push myself more; not only for my own personal goal, but for my team.”
This season, Guerra was able to score 4.2 points per game, pull down 5.6 rebounds and nab 3.6 steals per game.
“Mac was the pillar of our defense and without her on defense we couldn’t have functioned,” said San Benito head coach Abel Moreno. “Night in and night out our game plan was to put Mac on somebody and let her take away their best player.
“Our modus operandi was always to let her take care of business on defense and then get her on offense so she could control the game. We knew if we could take their best player out of the way, we would make their other players beat us.”
VMS All-STAR team
MVP
-Nadia Flores, Harlingen
Defensive Player of the Year
-McKayla Guerra, San Benito
Offensive Player of the Year
-Camryn Lopez, La Feria
Newcomer of the Year
-Karla Reyes, Harlingen South
Coach of the Year
-Abel Moreno, San Benito
1st Team
-Emilee Barraza, San Benito
-Julieann Garza, Harlingen
-Miranda Vallego, San Benito
-Leah Noe, Harlingen South
-Myah Salas, La Feria
2nd Team
-Taegan Dickey, Harlingen
-Cameron Del Angel, Harlingen South
-Laura Ramirez, Harlingen South
-Andrea Cortez, Harlingen
-Ariel Leal, Harlingen
