By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
The San Benito Lady Greyhounds have played seven games, which include an appearance at the annual Border Bash Tournament in McAllen.
The Lady ‘Hounds have a lone victory after they defeated the East Wildcats, 39-37. The game can be described as a tale of two halves, with San Benito, coached by Abel Moreno, outscoring its opponent in the fourth quarter.
“We return five players, but they all come with minimal varsity experience,” Moreno said. “Some did play, but had not taken the roles of leading the team and scoring, so making that adjustment with a slew of first-time varsity players has been an adjustment.”
Down 22-11 at halftime, the Lady ‘Hounds slowly closed the gap as they trailed by seven points after three quarters. They scored 17 points in the final quarter.
Following the tournament, San Benito returned to McAllen, but played a non-district game against the Nikki Rowe Lady Warriors, losing 52-17.
“Coaches are being patient and trying to install as many different concepts to get the athletes into being more competitive at the varsity level,” Moreno said. “Our focus right now is just getting everyone up to speed. We had many of our returners out in the offseason so it’s taking us time to adjust.”
Before month’s end, they will play one more game in McAllen, this time on Saturday, Nov. 29 against the Memorial Lady Mustangs.
San Benito starts District 32-6A play on Jan. 9 at Brownsville Hanna High School.
They have six games scheduled next month.
“We are slowly putting together a roster and are looking forward to seeing how far we are at the end of December,” Moreno said.
The San Benito Greyhounds, meanwhile, entered the Los Fresnos Tournament last weekend and came away with no wins.
Entering the tournament, they had a loss in the season opener against the Mission Eagles by a narrow margin, 58-55. San Benito responded with a win at Brownsville Rivera High School, defeating the Raiders 75-62.
They played a home game against the Corpus Christi Miller Buccaneers this week, but fell 79-58.
They have an extended period off due to the Thanksgiving holiday break.
San Benito returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 2 when it hosts the Edinburg North Cougars at 7:30 p.m.
A few days later, they play in the Brownsville Tournament from Thursday through Saturday, Dec.4-6.
The ‘Hounds’ next tournament is at McAllen from Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 11-13.
There are only five teams in District 32-6A. Therefore, the ‘Hounds’ first district game is on Tuesday, Jan. 20, when they travel to play the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers.
It is one of eight district games this season.
San Benito has a new head coach, Nate Garza. He takes over for Luis Garza.