Buffaloes edge Cardinals on basket with 15 seconds left

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Young Women’s Leadership Academy was tantalizingly close to its first District 28-4A victory this season Saturday morning at the Alamo Convocation Center.

The Cardinals’ Azel Garza, who had made five three-point shots, launched a shot from the left corner with Fox Tech (5-18, 2-8) ahead by two points. If Garza found the net, YWLA would be winners.

Unfortunately, for the Cardinals, the shot bounced high on the rim – and then bounded away from the basket. The Buffaloes won 42-40, but YWLA assistant coach Justin Roach said the Cardinals (1-20, 0-10) weren’t heartbroken by the outcome.

“It’s not frustrating,” said Roach, who filled in for head coach David Bibles. Bibles was out of town.

“We’re a new program. We’re only in our second year with the UIL. We only have one senior (starter). Basically, what you saw were sophomores and juniors.”

The two schools essentially are sister schools. YWLA, which has the No. 1 ranked middle school in  Texas academically, focuses its curriculum on math, science and technology. Fox Tech’s is law, medicine and public policy. By contrast, this is YWLA’s sixth year as a high school. Although Fox Tech’s history can be traced to the first downtown high school in 1879, it has been a technical school since the 1930s.

Their common bonds include being under the umbrella of the SAISD, being in a district in which every other school is exponentially larger and that their college-bound student bodies are comprised of students who had to apply for admission, not merely live within the SAISD’s boundaries.

In fact, both schools accept students from outside the inner-city district.

Fox Tech won the first meeting between the teams this season, 44-38, on Dec. 3, so there was a sense that the Cardinals could get their first 28-4A win since defeating Burbank in the final game of the 2012-13 season, their first in the district.

“Our kids felt the same way,” Fox Tech coach Thomas Donaubauer said. “We went in with the mindset that we had to win – because we know how tough it is to win in our district. The girls kept giving their all and found a way to win.”

A basket by the Buffaloes senior post Vanessa Capistran (17 points) on an assist from Ruby Chapa with 15.3 seconds to play was the eventual game-winner.

“Vanessa has been very dedicated throughout the season,” Donaubauer said. “She’s a very hard worker. All six of our seniors have really stepped up. They’ve had a great attitude.”

YWLA led 14-11 after the first quarter. However, the Cardinals were playing catch-up thereafter, for the most part.

Fox Tech led 23-21 at halftime and 32-29 after three quarters, although YWLA had a four-point lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.

The teams were tied three times in the early stages of the fourth quarter. Capistran scored three consecutive points to put the Buffaloes ahead 40-37 with 2:08 remaining.

Senior Serina Trevino (10 points) scored on a rebound for YWLA. Turnovers and missed foul shots prevented the Cardinals from tying it again, although the effort was there.

YWLA sophomore guard Karease Williams drove with 28.3 seconds to play. The ball hung on the rim, but didn’t go in. Williams missed the resulting foul shots, but grabbed the rebound and drew two more. She split those to tie it 40-40 with 25.2 seconds.

“Karease has always been that way,” YWLA athletic coordinator Lina Serna said. “She puts a lot of energy into everything she does.”

Garza led YWLA with 15 points and Clarissa Castro added eight points.

“This was one of our best efforts,” Roach said, “in all aspects of the game – offense, defense, hustle. We played with heart. Team-wise, we didn’t leave anything on the floor.”

Ashwini Bhakta and Carla Ponce each scored nine points for Fox Tech. The Buffaloes played without three injured players.

“We only had seven active players,” Donaubauer said. “It goes back to working hard in practice. The girls know (if someone is hurt), they have to step up to make up for that person. They’ve done a great job with that.”

The Buffaloes have a secret weapon, of sorts, in assistant coach Bob Carroll. Carroll has coached at the collegiate and international levels.

“He’s a great resource to have,” Donaubauer said. “He’s done a great job with our JV program. He has a vast knowledge of basketball, and he’s a great man.”

The biggest victory of the season for Fox Tech was recorded off the court, about a month ago, when it was announced that the school will maintain its sports programs for at least two more years. Rumors were circulating that athletics would be dropped after this season.

“Our principal (Annette Castillo) and our athletic coordinator (Janice Cuccia) really fought for us,” Donaubauer said. “We realized we’d probably lose a lot of kids if we didn’t have team sports. We all realize that sports are very, very important to student-athletes. You have to have that balance between school and sports.”

He said that Fox Tech will investigate whether it can be placed in a district with schools closer to its enrollment size (about 350 students).

“This is great for our freshmen and younger players. I’m excited about the future here,” Donaubauer said. “The boys basketball coach (Kellen Morgan) and myself have talked about going 2A or 3A. Almost every single game (in 28-4A) is like David vs. Goliath.

“But we’ve used that as motivation. I tell the girls, ‘All these schools count you out before the game even starts.’ It’s a credit to them that they’ve embraced the David vs. Goliath.”

YWLA, which has 147 students, is trying to make the same arrangement with regard to realignment.

By enrollment, both should be in Class 3A, according to the UIL’s conference cutoff numbers (YWLA’s enrollment is doubled for classification purposes because it’s a girls-only school).

“Academics comes first. We’re just trying to grow our programs,” Serna said. “We still want to play the same schools, but we’d like to have the opportunity to play schools that are at our level (in district).”