Laredo Alexander girls basketball clinches playoff berth, looks ahead to showdown with rival Laredo United
LAREDO, Texas - The Laredo Alexander girls basketball team secured a playoff berth with a 62-39 victory over Laredo LBJ on Friday night.
Laredo Alexander (20-11, 8-3) utilized a combination of a stingy half court defense, rebounding and speed to jump all over Laredo LBJ, who has been eliminated from postseason contention.
Laredo Alexander's postseason seed will largely depend on Tuesday’s outcome against rival Laredo United.
From the inception on Friday night, Laredo Alexander unleashed a half-court zone defense that visibly caused chaos on the court. Laredo LBJ had a hard time getting into its offense as Laredo Alexander forced them into half-court traps and took away the passing lanes.
Their stifling half-court defense caused a barrage of turnovers that led to transition points at the other end of the court, and no one benefited more than senior Kayla Herrera who utilized her uncanny speed to race down for quick layups.
“Every game is very important to us,” Herrera said. “We always have to prepare during practice and be ready for game day. Every game is different on the level of playing. Today we went out there running our offense getting everyone involved. Defensively we started off strong by causing turnovers and transitioning to our offense off the fast break and score. I am so grateful for my teammates and our coach.”
A week ago, Herrera secured her college future after signing her National Letter of Intent with Temple College. She has been Laredo Alexander’s No. 1 option on offense since her sophomore season. Herrera had another solid outing, pouring in a game-high 24 points for the Lady Bulldogs.
Herrera scored five seconds into the game and set the tone early for Laredo Alexander. The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-0 lead before Laredo LBJ hit a layup at the 2:29 mark. Herrera was the driving force behind Laredo Alexander’s offense, burning the nets for 12 of the Lady Bulldogs 18 points in the first quarter.
After taking an 18-4 lead Laredo Alexander senior Sophie Villalobos hit a three-pointer and a layup while Cristina Sandoval had a pair of field goals from the paint. Kassy Lopez went 2-for-2 from the free throw line and connected on a field goal to give Laredo Alexander a commanding 35-12 halftime lead. Villalobos finished with 15 points.
Laredo LBJ kept attempting to get back into the game with an array of lineups as the Lady Wolves were desperately searching for the right combination to slow down Laredo Alexander. But the offensive weapons were too much to overcome.
Laredo Alexander held a 50-21 lead at the end of the third quarter, but the fourth quarter belonged to Laredo LBJ. Despite what the scoreboard read the Lady Wolves kept playing hard and never relinquished that determination. Laredo LBJ’s Leilani Medina scored 13 of her team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to help the Lady Wolves outscore Laredo Alexander 17-11.
The majority of the starting core rested most of the second half in preparation for the season finale, where the Lady Bulldogs host Laredo United, their northside rival. In the first meeting Laredo United picked up a thrilling overtime victory that went down to the wire.
“For United we have a few days to prepare ourselves mentally and physically," Herrera said. “We are very excited to host United and for being the last game of the regular season. It’s going to be a great showdown. I can’t wait! I know United is coming with everything they got. They are such a good team. The first time we met at United was such a heartbreaking one. But we learned from our mistakes and will overcome them on Tuesday. Our coach will have his game plan and we will be successful and come out stronger this time."
"We are so ready to play United.”
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