Southwest takes consolation title with win over Edison

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From its early schedule, it’d be easy to assume that Harlandale is a Class 5A school.

After opening the season against 28-5A representative East Central, the young Indians (2-3) found themselves in the land of the giant schools last Saturday. Harlandale was the only Class 4A school to reach the semifinals of this year’s Harlandale ISD Tournament.

With just four returning letterwinners, the Indians predictably took their lumps against a couple of strong 5A teams in their last two games Saturday. Eventual champion Churchill (5-0) defeated Harlandale 70-31 in the semifinals. Roosevelt (4-1) overpowered the Indians 47-8 in the third-place game.

The Indians began the tournament with a pair of wins. They defeated Class 4A Jefferson 42-31 and 5A Lee 45-33 Friday. 

“We started off pretty strong,” Harlandale coach Jackie Contreras said. “We have a talented, skilled team. We just need to look for our shot more.”

Harlandale wasn’t the only school to take home hardware from the three-day tournament. Southwest (5-1) defeated Edison (2-2) 56-32 for the consolation championship.

Southwest, led by arguably the area’s best player in Tiffani Rodriguez, lost its opening game 52-46 to Roosevelt Thursday. The Dragons won their remaining games, starting with wins over Fox Tech (1-3) and McCollum (1-3) on Friday. In the consolation semifinals Saturday, they downed St. Anthony 63-38.

Rodriguez scored 22 points and Briana Longoria added 18 against St. Anthony. Edison held Rodriguez to 12 points, but the Dragons spread out the scoring as they outscored the Golden Bears 22-5 in the second quarter. Jenyl Henry chipped in 11 points.

“We lost a heartbreaker to Roosevelt in the first game,” Southwest coach Bill Avey said. “Other than that, it was a very good tournament. We’ve played a good early schedule, and now we have a lot of work to do on our halfcourt execution.”

The Dragons’ opponent, Edison, opened with a 50-point loss to Churchill, which is picked to make the playoffs from District 26-5A. The Golden Bears rebounded to defeat Memorial (0-3) 57-11 later Friday and edge Jefferson (1-3) 42-38 in the consolation semifinals Saturday.

Edison point guard Marissa Salas scored 13 points and Paula Moreno had 10 against Southwest. Salas put up 17 points in the win over Jefferson.

“We didn’t have a season opener,” Edison coach Angie Alonso said. “Our first game was in this tournament. We’re kind of young, so this is a very good starting point. We know what we need to do now.”

Harlandale senior post Connie Garza scored 20 points against Lee (1-3). Senior Kelly Landin and freshman Miranda Samarripas added eight points apiece.

Against Roosevelt, the Indians played strong defense and committed no unforced errors in the first quarter. They were within 6-3 after the first eight minutes. However, the Roughriders started a run of 27 unanswered points late in the quarter.

“We’ve played some really tough teams,” Contreras said. “This will get us ready for district and the playoffs. This is kind of like a reality check. If we work on our mistakes, it will get us ready for the playoffs.”

Holy Cross (1-3) ended the tournament with a 78-32 loss to Clemens (3-1) in a guaranteed game Saturday. The Knights began with a 45-41 win over McCollum last Thursday. In the quarterfinals, Taft smashed Holy Cross 50-12.

Joslyn Flores led the Knights with 23 points against McCollum. The Cowboys’ Emilee Almazan produced 14.

“I’ve never had a point guard like Flores, who can make (3-point baskets) in transition,” Holy Cross coach Jesse Arguello said. “Now we can spread the court. We can shoot the three if we’re open, or drive the lane and drop it off to the post.”

MORE TO COME