By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
With the district looming, the Del Rio Queens basketball team continues to gain experience and team unity through its non-district schedule.
This past weekend, Del Rio traveled to Navarro to begin play in a tournament there.
In their opening game, the Queens took on Gregory-Portland and lost, 54-52.
“We played them hard to the last second,” Queens head coach Marisa Soto said.
The Queens held a two–point lead at halftime, 23-21, before Gregory-Portland came alive in the second half, outscoring Del Rio 35-27, to take the game by two.
Sydney Ballard led Del Rio with 15 points including a pair of 3’s. Joselyn Gonzalez was close behind with 14 points and two 3-pointers of her own.
Nelly Robles had seven points, Alexia Muñiz had six points, Allie Rodriguez had four points, and Makayla Lewis and Sierra Horton each had two points.
Del Rio bounced back from that loss to beat Lockhart, 34-33.
The Queens exploded out of the gate with 13 points in the first quarter, but that fast start didn’t last as Lockhart turned up the heart on Del Rio and held the team to just two points in the second. That left Del Rio down 23-15 at halftime.
Del Rio found its groove again in the second half, scoring eight points and holding Lockhart to just four points to cut the deficit to 27-23.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Queens as they outscored Lockhart, 11-6, to pull off a come-from-behind one-point win.
Robles led the Queens with nine points. Ballard and Gonzalez each finished with eight points and a combined three 3-pointers, Rodriguez had five points, and Muñiz and Lewis each finished with two points.
Next up for Del Rio was a tough Navarro team. Navarro took control of the game with a 28-point second quarter and cruised from there, winning 61-36.
Kaitlyn Lewis scored 12 points to lead Del Rio in scoring. Ballard had 11 points, Marina Jimenez had five points, Muñiz had four points, and Gonzalez and Makayla Lewis each had two points.
Del Rio’s final game on Friday saw them take on Floresville.
The Queens pulled away for the 42-36 win thanks to a 19-point fourth quarter.
Gonzalez had the hot hand, scoring 18 to lead Del Rio. Ballard had 13 points, Jimenez had nine points, and Robles had two.
Del Rio qualified for the tournament’s bronze bracket and went up against Wimberly for a shot at first, but a 29-21 deficit was too much to overcome for the Queens as they took second behind a final score of 56-48.
Ballard had her best game of the season, exploding for 28 points. She scored in each quarter and helped her cause by going 6-for-7 from the free throw line and knocking down two 3-pointers. Jimenez had six points, Robles had four points, Gonzalez and Horton each had three points and Rodriguez rounded out the scoring with two points.
The Queens were scheduled to host Sonora today at 5 p.m. at the Carl P. Guys Memorial Gymnasium.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
