Six girls basketball teams from the East Valley will be competing in the second round of the UIL state playoffs this week.
The Harlingen High Lady Cardinals, ranked No. 8 in Class 6A by the Texas Girls Coaches Association and No. 15 by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, improved their winning streak to 16 games Friday. Harlingen High defeated Edinburg Vela 62-44 to set up an area-round date with San Antonio Harlan. The game is tentatively set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Corpus Christi Calallen, but depending on weather it could be pushed to Wednesday, same time and place.
District 32-5A champion Brownsville Veterans Memorial defeated McAllen High 52-27 on Friday to advance to Round 2. The Lady Chargers are ranked No. 20 in Class 5A by the TABC and No. 22 by the TGCA. They’ll face Victoria East at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Corpus Christi King.
The TGCA No. 8 Rio Hondo Lady Bobcats clinched an area-round berth for the first time since 2014 with a 50-39 victory over Alice on Thursday. The District 32-4A and now bi-district champions will aim to stay undefeated when they take on Somerset at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Alice.
Three teams from the East Valley are still alive in Class 3A. After receiving a first-round bye, the District 31-3A champion Lyford Lady Bulldogs will have their hands full in Round 2. Lyford will square off with Bishop in a battle of top 25 teams at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Kingsville. Lyford is No. 19 in the TGCA poll and No. 24 in the TABC standings. Bishop is ranked No. 13 and No. 17 by the TGCA and TABC, respectively.
District 32-3A champion Brownsville IDEA Frontier recorded its first postseason win in program history by handily defeating Pharr IDEA 77-10 on Thursday. The Lady Chargers are now set to battle Aransas Pass, ranked No. 21 by the TABC, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Falfurrias Middle School.
Santa Rosa advanced to the area round after a 60-36 victory over Weslaco IDEA Pike on Friday. The Lady Warriors will face Skidmore-Tynan, ranked No. 16 by the TGCA and No. 23 by the TABC, at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Falfurrias High School.
The St. Joseph Lady Bloodhounds captured the District 4-5A championship with a 65-27 win Thursday over Victoria St. Joseph. It’s their first district title since the 2013-14 season. The Lady Bloodhounds are 13-3 overall and 5-1 in district, leading to a No. 6 ranking in the TABC 5A private school poll.
SJA will have to wait a little longer than expected to begin its journey through the TAPPS playoffs. TAPPS executive director Bryan Bunselmeyer announced Thursday that the basketball district certification deadline was pushed back to Feb. 20 due to the polar vortex putting games on hold.
Additionally, the Lady Bloodhounds received a first-round bye, so their future playoff opponent is pending. SJA coach Robert Moreno said regardless of who they play, the Lady Bloodhounds will be playing host to the second-round game Feb. 23.
Harlingen South was eliminated in the bi-district round of the Class 6A playoffs after a 56-19 loss to PSJA North. Los Fresnos fell to Edinburg High 54-27. In Class 5A, Brownsville Pace was defeated by Sharyland Pioneer 48-31.
La Feria and Port Isabel saw their seasons end Friday in the Class 4A bi-district round. La Feria was bested 46-30 by Corpus Christi Calallen, and Port Isabel lost to Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway 69-44. Brownsville IDEA Riverview lost to Donna IDEA 46-29 in Class 3A. On Thursday, Santa Maria was defeated by Port Aransas 40-33 in Class 2A and San Perlita lost to D’Hanis 63-39 in Class 1A.
