By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
LA FERIA, TX—The Lady Bobcats have continued to play impressive basketball as they earned three of four wins against schools with higher classifications at the annual Tommie Wiseman Tournament.
The Lady ’Cats defeated Edinburg Economedes (74-23), Los Fresnos (69-34), and Edinburg North (53-52). Only a loss sandwiched in between against TAPPS Class 1A defending champion Edinburg Harvest Christian by a 60-33 margin put a damper during their two-day tournament play.
Rio Hondo is 12-2 on the year.
“The tournament has been a great challenging tournament for years, and we had the honor of winning it a few years back and have really liked the competition it provides for my girls moving forward throughout the season,” Rio Hondo Coach Victor Sauceda said. “I felt the girls played outstanding. We beat three Class 6A schools and lost to a back-to-back state champion.”
Leading scorers against Economedes were Abby Atkinson and Carlie Rodriguez with 21 points each, and Emily Molina with 16 points. In the Los Fresnos game, Rodriguez led Rio Hondo with 20 points. Four other players scored in double figures, including Atkinson (12 points), and Molina, Evan Ayala, and Joselyn Gallegos each with 10 points.
Rodriguez had 24 points against Edinburg North with Molina (12 points) and Atkinson (10 points) contributing.
During the Harvest Christian game, five Rio Hondo players scored as Rodriguez and Ayala each had eight points in the loss.
The Lady Bobcats have six games scheduled before the end of the year. In order of dates, the game’s will be against Lyford away, at home against La Villa (Dec. 13), IDEA Riverview, (Dec. 17), and Santa Rosa (Dec. 20), away at Raymondville (Dec. 23), and at home against IDEA Sports Park (Dec. 31).
“I look forward to it helping us down the road in district play and for our playoff run,” Sauceda said.
Boys compete at Hidalgo tournament.
By comparison, the Bobcats played four games in two days and finished with an even record during the annual Hidalgo Pirates Classic.
They had victories against Weslaco IDEA (53-37) and Valley View (46-35). Their losses were to Pharr-San Juan-Alamo, 53-49, and host Hidalgo, 57-25.
They also lost to Weslaco East, 49-32.
Rio Hondo has games scheduled this month against Lyford at home (Dec. 10), at IDEA Riverview (Dec. 17), at Santa Rosa (Dec. 20), and home against Raymondville (Dec. 27).