A season-high eight high school girls basketball teams across the Rio Grande Valley have earned statewide rankings in the latest edition of the Texas Girls Coaches Association Top 25 polls, which were released Monday.
The biggest risers in this week’s TGCA rankings represent a pair of the RGV’s top teams in Class 5A: Rio Grande City and Sharyland Pioneer.
Rio Grande City (16-2) shot up to No. 17 in the state at the 5A level after the Rattlers downed La Joya Palmview and Roma last week to lock up the District 30-5A championship. RGC earned a spot in the TGCA poll in December 2020, but this represents the team’s first statewide ranking of 2021.
Sharyland Pioneer (14-2) also joined Rio Grande City in jumping out of the ranks of the unranked up to No. 21 in Class 5A in the latest TGCA rankings. The Diamondbacks dismantled McAllen Rowe, McAllen High and Sharyland High in the span of three days last week to earn their first ranking of 2021, as well.
Brownsville Veterans (19-2), which has enjoyed a steady presence in the TGCA rankings all season, joined them as the third RGV team in this week’s Class 5A poll moving up one spot to No. 23. The Chargers defeated Mercedes and Donna High last week to clinch the District 32-5A title.
RGC will travel to Mission Veterans at 6 p.m. Tuesday and host Laredo Martin at the same time Friday looking to complete an unbeaten run through District 30-5A, while Brownsville Vets will host Brownsville Pace at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and travel to Edcouch-Elsa at the same time Friday looking to do the same in 32-5A.
Pioneer, meanwhile, traveled to McAllen Memorial on Monday night, kicking off a stretch of four games in five days as the Diamondbacks hope to clinch the District 31-5A title.
In Class 6A, both Edinburg High and Harlingen High continued to ascend the TGCA rankings after both teams clinched their respective district titles this past week.
Edinburg High (19-3) moved up two spots to 11th in the state, its highest ranking of the season so far, after beating Edinburg North twice and PSJA North once last week to capture the program’s fifth consecutive district championship. The Bobcats played their regular-season finale Monday night at PSJA High with a chance to move to 16-0 in district competition.
Harlingen High (19-2) climbed six spots up to 19th this week after defeating Los Fresnos and San Benito last week to clinch the program’s third straight district title. The Cardinals will close out their regular season at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Brownsville Hanna in Harlingen with a chance to go unbeaten in 32-6A.
Rio Hondo (13-0), meanwhile, retained its No. 10 ranking in the TGCA’s Class 4A poll and the title of the Valley’s highest-ranked girls basketball team for the second consecutive week after beating Grulla, Raymondville and Port Isabel.
The Bobcats, the RGV’s lone remaining unbeaten team, can finish the regular season undefeated with wins at home against Raymondville on Tuesday and on the road against Hidalgo on Friday with both games set to tip off at 5:30 p.m.
In Class 3A, Donna IDEA (16-4) dropped six spots into a tie for 25th and Lyford (17-4) moved up one spot to 22nd after the Bulldogs beat the Titans head-to-head for the District 31-3A title last week.
Lyford will close out its regular season at Pharr Vanguard at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday with a chance to go undefeated in 31-3A, while Donna IDEA will wait for the Class 3A state playoffs to begin next week.
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Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
