McALLEN — With nearly a full week of rest and preparation time, Yulissa Yebra was ready to perform on the postseason stage.
During the opening minutes of the third quarter, McAllen Rowe’s 6-foot sophomore center cut off a baseline charge to the basket by Edcouch-Elsa and swatted the ball into the bleachers.
Following the ensuing inbounds play, Yebra stuffed a second shot attempt in the post before nearly getting her fingertips on a third and outmuscling everyone around her for a contested rebound.
Yebra dominated the Warriors’ bi-district game, tallying nine points, eight rebounds, five blocks and a pair of steals to lead Rowe past Edcouch-Elsa 44-35 on Thursday night and into the area round of the Class 5A state playoffs.
“We just really wanted to get to that second round,” Yebra said after punching Rowe’s first ticket to the area round since 2013. “We did what we had to do defensively and offensively. We ran the floor with them really (well).”
Edcouch-Elsa entered as one of the hottest teams across the Rio Grande Valley in the midst of a five-game winning streak and fresh off a victory over state-ranked Brownsville Veterans in its regular-season finale.
The Yellow Jackets, though, got off to an ice-cold start against Rowe.
The Jackets found themselves undersized and overmatched in the interior, where Yebra and the Warriors’ post players set the tone early.
Rowe held Edcouch-Elsa scoreless for the first 7 minutes, 58 seconds of game time, with the Jackets finding their first points at the free-throw line after a foul on a 3-point attempt to close the first quarter.
Edcouch-Elsa was unable to drain a shot from the floor for more than 9 minutes to start the game. By that point, the Warriors were already racing ahead.
“Edcouch is a tough, tough team to play. They’ve got a lot of fight in them and they never quit,” McAllen Rowe head coach Alex Robles said.
“We tried to slow down (Madi Treviño) and (Mia Flores). We weren’t going to be able to stop them; they’re just that good of players, especially both of them. … Any time they cut, we had two designated players that were going to follow them wherever they went and make the rest of their team beat us.”
Despite missing two of their routine starters, the Warriors looked refreshed and ready to run with their up-tempo counterparts from Edcouch-Elsa.
Rowe, which quarantined for three weeks in mid-January and finished a mad dash to the postseason with seven games in 14 days, had its first opportunity to practice and fully prepare for an opponent in weeks.
That preparation was evident, as the Warriors got off to a white-hot shooting night in the first half. The team led 25-11 heading into halftime, shooting 63% from the field and 50% from behind the 3-point arc.
Edcouch-Elsa came out determined during the second half with a full-court press that held Rowe scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the half and trimmed the lead to as few as nine points on a few occasions.
Ultimately, however, the Yellow Jackets struggled to penetrate against the Warriors in the paint and were unable to score over Yebra in the interior, instead settling for contested outside shots.
“That’s why we had her in the middle (defensively),” Robles said. “Any time she was able to, she beat their players to an angle. … She’s so long that all she has to do is go straight up because they’re going to shoot the ball into her hands a majority of the time. She’s already pretty tough when it comes to trying to score on her down low.”
Forward Ziomarra Jasso led Rowe with 12 points, while guards Alexys Delgado and Destiny Menchaca each added 10. Treviño and Josie Alvarado led Edcouch-Elsa in scoring with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The victory moves Rowe to 18-6 on the season overall and into the area round of the playoffs, where the team will face Corpus Christi Veterans (24-2), the ninth-ranked team in the 5A Texas Girls Coaches Association poll, after the Eagles defeated Laredo Cigarroa 78-47 on Thursday.
The Warriors will have the opportunity to pick up their first area-round win in nine years.
“Ever since last year, we’ve really wanted to get to that second round and win,” Yebra said. “I’m really proud of my girls and my team.”
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Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
