By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Laredo United South showed Del Rio basketball fans why they’re a state-ranked girls basketball team Friday night.
The visiting Lady Panthers used their size and speed to smother the Queens and remain unbeaten in District 30-6A behind a 61-26 win over Del Rio.
The loss drops the Queens to 2-8 in district.
South, the 11th ranked team in Class 6A in Texas, held Del Rio to just one point in the first quarter. Allie Rodriguez sank one of two free throws to account for all of Del Rio’s scoring in the opening stanza.
Meanwhile, South built a 17-1 lead and never looked back.
It was South’s combination of speed and size that seemed to intimidate Del Rio’s shooters into passing up any kind of look at the basket early on. Del Rio’s coaches and fans urged any Queen who had their hands on the ball to put up a shot, but they’d either decline, have their shot blocked or put up a wild shot with no chance to go in.
It didn’t help that the Queens turned the ball over 11 times in the first quarter.
Things didn’t get any better for Del Rio when Araceli Hernandez and Joselyn Gonzalez collided headfirst near the visiting stands. The impact knocked both girls to the court, but Gonzalez had to leave the game for a bit to be tended to by trainers. She would return in the second quarter and showed no ill effects from the collision.
Del Rio finally made its first basketball from the field in the second quarter as Karolina Alderete hit a short jumper with 4:40 left in the first half. A few moments she hit a second shot and for a second it looked like the Queens were more relaxed and more confident as they started taking shots from different spots on the court against South’s reserves.
Hernandez converted an and-one, and Sydney Ballard buried a 3-pointer to help Del Rio outscore South 12-11 in the second quarter though they still trailed 28-13 at halftime.
In the third quarter, South’s starters returned and so did Del Rio’s shooting woes. The Queens hit one shot from the field and scored just four points in the third to fall behind 46-17 headed into the fourth quarter.
Gonzalez scored the bulk of her points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as Del Rio took the loss in their second to last home game of the season.
Gonzalez led the Queens with seven points. Alderete finished with six points, Hernandez added five points, Ballard finished with three points, Alexa Muñiz and Debanhi Padilla each scored two points, and Rodriguez finished with one point.
United South’s Dezerae de la Garza led all scorers with 13 points. She was the only Lady Panthers player to score in double digits, but she was one of 10 South players to record at least one point.
The Queens will play their final home game of the season today at 2:30 p.m. against Laredo LBJ in a game that was rescheduled due to COVID-19.
Del Rio will close out its season Tuesday when they travel to Eagle Pass to face the Lady Eagles at 7 p.m.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
