SAN BENITO — The game might have been over, however the San Benito faithful weren’t leaving the gymnasium just yet.
Five minutes after their Class 6A bi-district game against Edinburg Vela concluded, the Lady Hounds, armed with a pair of scissors, one by one climbed a ladder and claimed a piece of history by cutting down the net.
San Benito finished the game with four players in double digits as the Lady Hounds put forth another dominating performance in a 61-32 victory over the Lady Sabercats on Tuesday evening.
With the win, the Lady Hounds move on to the area round of the playoffs where they’ll face Laredo Alexander at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Corpus Christi Carroll High School.
What is quickly becoming a common occurrence, senior MirandaVallejo led the team with a game high 20 points. Meanwhile, junior Haley Lopez finished the contest with 13 points, Emilee Barraza had 11 and Arlene Lucero added 10 points.
“Miranda played on another level tonight and she deserves all the credit she’s been getting,” said San Benito head coach AbelMoreno. “And I think she deserves the respect from the rest of the Valley because she’s been quietly becoming a better player, and tonight she gave us what she’s worth and played really well.
“But at the same time, if you look at the whole team like MikaylaGarcia and Emilee Barraza, they can all play.”
Despite the win, it was the Lady Sabercats who jumped out to a 4-0 run to start the game, but a 3-point play by Barraza and a 3-pointer by Lopez with 4:30 left in the first period gave the Lady Hounds a 6-4 lead they didn’t surrender. San Benito finished the quarter on a 14-2 run to jump out on a 14-6 lead.
In the second, the Lady Hounds kept their foot on the gas pedal and went on a 15-6 run as Vallejo and Lopez combined for 11 points and a 29-12 halftime lead.
The Lady Hounds outscored Vela 13-7 in the third and 19-13 in the fourth.
However, in spite of the joyous outcome, the message after the game was clear: Let’s shoot for history.
“I told them ‘let’s make a difference and let’s do something beyond what we have done before’ and the team agrees,” said Moreno.
“I’ve been around good teams and this team has all the ability to go a few rounds in and I just believe that right now we just have good tempo and good momentum. Alexander is going to be hard, but we are going to take it to them and I think we can continue going.”
