McALLEN — Senior Cori Talamantez and junior Iasia Goldman waited patiently for two weeks to return to the basketball court, while their McAllen Memorial teammates were sidelined during a program-wide quarantine that stalled the team’s district schedule in the final weeks of regular-season competition.
But the Mustangs’ quarantine was merely the latest in a series of hurdles that girls basketball teams across the Rio Grande Valley have faced throughout an unpredictable season defined by changes, stoppages and chaotic schedule reshuffling induced by COVID-19-related concerns as the coronavirus pandemic continues to roll through the RGV.
Goldman and Talamantez helped lead their team to a 52-49 come-from-behind victory over crosstown rival McAllen Rowe in their return to the court to keep McAllen Memorial’s playoff hopes alive.
Memorial’s win, however, marked the first of five games the Mustangs must play during a seven-day period to climb the standings or hold onto the district’s fourth seed in the lead up to the UIL state playoffs, which are set to begin next week.
“I think we’re going to have to take it game by game,” Talamantez said. “We’ve just got to play every game like it’s our last. We could get shut down or another team could get shut down again and our season might be over, so I think just playing every game like it could be your last is going to help push day by day without realizing how many games you’ve played in (however many) days.”
The Mustangs are far from alone too, as the playoff race in District 31-5A and others across the Rio Grande Valley will come down to a gargantuan slate of games for many teams crammed into one final week.
Several of the teams contending with Memorial for the four playoff berths up for grabs in 31-5A face even more daunting paths to the postseason.
The McAllen Rowe Warriors kicked off a stretch of six games in eight days with their loss to Memorial on Saturday.
Rowe was sidelined for nearly the entirety of January, missing three consecutive weeks of district play due to COVID concerns which complicated the schedules of every other team in 31-5A simultaneously.
Consequently, the Warriors now have to play more than half their district schedule (10 games) within the final 15 days of the regular season.
Sharyland Pioneer, the only team to clinch a playoff berth thus far in 31-5A, found it nearly impossible to play out their district schedule after returning from quarantine in mid-January.
Before the Diamondbacks even finished their first game back on the court, a route of rival Sharyland High, they learned that their next two opponents — PSJA Memorial and Valley View — had canceled the team’s next two games by heading into their own respective quarantines.
“It felt good just walking into the gym and hearing basketballs go,” Sharyland Pioneer head coach Nicole Villarreal said after her team returned from quarantine. “The girls missed each other, too. Even though we were doing remote workouts, it’s just not the same.”
That all pales in comparison, though, to the handful of teams across the RGV who have had to endure multiple quarantines due to COVID-related concerns.
Edinburg High, which has already clinched the District 31-6A title, navigated that uncertainty better than most.
The Bobcats were ushered into their first program-wide quarantine in mid-December and came back in time to play three games around New Year’s Eve before they were sidelined for a second time due to COVID-related concerns.
That erased four out of five weeks of scheduled games for Edinburg High, which was forced to frantically scramble to fit in rescheduled district contests.
As a result, the Bobcats played three games in three days in back-to-back weeks and were scheduled to play four games during a four-day stretch before two of their opponents entered quarantines, as well.
“When you’re off two weeks, play three games and off two weeks, it’s hard to get back in that rhythm. You’re not in that two-games-per-week type (of) mode,” Edinburg High head coach John David Salinas said. “It’s a weird year.”
Valley View is another team with playoff aspirations that must overcome a double-quarantine to get back to the postseason.
The Tigers, who snapped one of the RGV’s lengthiest playoff droughts last season, faced their first quarantine that stretched from early December to mid-January after a delayed start to the season.
Valley View found itself in quarantine for the second time after winning its first three district games, a two-week shutdown period that concluded Friday, which began an eight-day period in which the Tigers must play out their 11 remaining district games.
These types of scheduling overhauls have led many school districts including Donna High, Edcouch-Elsa and PSJA High to either ban or further limit spectators during all home games in efforts to allow their teams to finish the regular season smoothly with the playoffs looming.
Coaches and student-athletes alike recognize that teams across Texas are facing similar difficulties, but noted that the RGV continues to face unique challenges.
“I’m always preaching to the girls, ‘Protect yourselves and protect your families, because it’s not just you guys, it’s everybody else around you,’” Rio Grande City head coach Gus Valenciana said. “In order for us to accomplish something special, we’ve got to stay healthy first.”
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Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
