BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Daniela Sauceda only needed two seasons of varsity basketball with the Chargers to become the best player in the Lower Valley.
Sauceda’s abilities yielded her a scholarship at Texas A&M University-San Antonio and The Brownsville Herald/Valley Morning Star 2023-24 Most Valuable Player award.
Sauceda helped lead the Chargers to another District 32-5A title during their final year of Class 5A basketball. The Chargers also picked up a first-round playoff victory, with Sauceda being key. The forward averaged a double-double, putting up 15 and 10 a night, and chipped in two assists, two steals and a block per game.
Sauceda said she was happy about the distribution aspect of her game growing this season as she looked to find open teammates instead of always going back up off of a rebound.
“We had ups and downs, but overall we learned how to play with each other,” Sauceda said.
Sauceda took pride in elevating her game after going from All-Metro newcomer of the year to the MVP of the Lower Valley, but also in helping the underclassmen on the team improve.
The MVP was ready to play any position at Brownsville Veterans this season, and she did. Sauceda played a point forward role at times and will need to adjust to a perimeter player in college after spending majority of her time down low as a junior.
“We knew coming into the year people were going to have their eye on her and make it rough for her,” Chargers head coach Arnold Torres said.
Sauceda had a good attitude despite being frustrated because of the attention from defenses, Torres said.
“She kept her composure and kept playing for the team and doing what she had to do. That made everybody else better,” Torres said.
Torres said she will be missed, but knows she will do well at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
