Watch out, here comes Laredo
On Wednesday, all three of the remaining Valley girls’ basketball teams were eliminated from the playoffs in one fell swoop.
In Class 3A, Hidalgo lost to West Oso 46-41, Harlingen South lost to Laredo Nixon 55-38 and, perhaps most surprising of all, Laredo Alexander beat McAllen 65-63.
It’s the two results against the Laredo teams that are the most intriguing.
In the past, there has been the perception that the Laredo schools are the Valley’s little sisters when it comes to a number of sports, including girls’ basketball.
Coaches probably don’t have that perception. But the media and certainly a big number of fans do.
However, the numbers are starting to tell a different story.
At one time, Valley girls’ basketball teams were beating Laredo schools every three out of four times (a 75 percent rate). After the 2000-2001 season, Harlingen beat Nixon 69-32, to give the Valley a 9-3 edge over Laredo.
After the 2004-2005 season, Valley schools held a 12-5 edge against the Laredo schools in the playoffs.
That was the first season of the new UIL alignment that gave the Valley three 5A districts again and bracketed the Laredo schools with the Valley in the playoffs.
That was also the first season, the Valley was able to send two Class 5A teams to the Region IV tournament (Edinburg and Rivera).
During that season, Rivera led by All-Valley MVP Cindy Sierra, blew past Cigarroa 72-37 on its way to the regional tournament.
And what happened in 2005-2006 just seemed to reinforce the perception that Laredo schools were the Valley’s hoops playground.
That was the season that South and Edinburg, with senior-laden teams, might have been the best teams South of San Antonio.
The Lady Hawks hammered Laredo Alexander 90-43 in the area round and Edinburg turned back Nixon 64-55 in the regional quarterfinals.
The Valley had two teams in the regional tournament for the second straight season.
And there were expectations that the same would happen again this season.
Enter the Laredo schools.
Perhaps it wasn’t too surprising that Nixon, a senior-laden squad, turned back Harlingen South, which didn’t even have a senior on its roster.
Both coaches acknowledged the experience factor after the game, won by Nixon 55-38.
“Our inexperience really showed tonight,” South coach Dawn Engleman said. “They’re an experienced team and they were stronger inside. They just wanted it more.”
Nixon coach Arleen Averill agreed.
“It helps to have a senior ballclub,” said Averill. “You want those experienced players on the court, they can handle the pressure.”
But, the McAllen loss is a different story. The Lady Bulldogs were the consensus No. 1 team in the Valley and ranked 20th in the state and, while still young, had been knocking on the door of the regional tournament for a couple seasons. McAllen lost in the regional quarterfinals to Harlingen South 56-54 last season and seemed primed to make a run to the regional tournament.
However, Alexander had different ideas. In addition to knocking off McAllen, Alexander also eliminated Hanna, which won District 32-5A.
Nixon and Alexander each beat three Valley teams to reach the regional tourney, including all three district champions — Hanna, South and McAllen. All three won their league titles without a district loss.
There are some things that don’t change. Both Laredo schools lost in the regional semis. Alexander lost to Churchill and Corpus Christi Carroll, coached by former McAllen Memorial coach Leticia Canales, eliminated Nixon.
Saturday morning Churchill beat Carroll 57-54 to advance to the state tournament.
So what does it all mean?
Is it a trend? The numbers seem to say it is.
Laredo has cut the Valley’s edge in playoff games to 16-15. So since 2004-2005, Laredo schools have gone 10-3 against Valley schools.
Now with four teams making the playoffs and with the current UIL alignment, the two areas will get plenty of opportunities to play each other.
But perhaps it’s time to face facts.
As Averill said after Nixon beat South.
“Laredo can play some ball.”
Paul Conatzer writes about girls basketball for the Valley Morning Star. You can contact him at paulc@valleystar.com or at 956-430-6286.
