By LARRY GAGE
Special to the PRESS
The Port Isabel High Lady Tarpons hoops squad went on the road Tuesday night and came home from Progreso with a 48-29 win in the sixth district game for both teams.
“It was a great confidence builder at this point in the season,” P.I. head girls coach Blake Ramsey said this week. “I told the girls to come out … just jump on them early and get after it.”
That they did. The Lady Tarpons led 26-2 at the end of a quarter of play, and 34-8 at halftime. It was 41-19 at the start of the fourth quarter.
One aspect of his team’s game the head coach most wanted to see improvement in was the transition to offense after a steal. “I think we really improved on finishing in transition. We jumped out to a 26-2 lead because, after our steals, we really focused and finished at the other end. That was a huge improvement.”
We worked more together as a team,” senior captain and four-year varsity player Alex Martinez said Wednesday. “We moved up three JV girls and they adapted really well, and we were really proud of the way they played.”
Jasmine Saldivar led the team in scoring with 12 points and had two three-pointers. Martinez hit for 11 points and made six steals. Hadassah Daigle and Natasha Ramirez each scored six points, and Daigle and Saldivar each got four steals. Karina Vela grabbed five rebounds and blocked a shot.
The team improves to 2-4 in District 32-4A play, which ties them for fifth place in the standings. At the top, it’s a three-way tie for first among Zapata, Rio Hondo and Hidalgo — all with 5-1 league records. La Feria is fourth with 4-2 district record.
The JV Lady Tarpons also won, 31-26. There was no freshmen game.
At home last Friday the Lady Tarpons fell to Hidalgo, 49-39.
La Feria is next on the schedule for Port Isabel and that game will be at Tarpon Gym this Friday.
“They’re very similar to us,” Ramsey said. “They’ll press us full-court. It’s going to be an aggressive game.”
Martinez likes where the team is at. “We’re at a really good place right now and we’re doing really well with the teamwork. We’re talking more … and we trust each other on the court. Every day we’re working hard to get better and every practice counts.”
Martinez comes into Friday’s game leading all Valley players with an average of 7.8 steals per game, and is sixth with a per-game average of 16.4 points. Karina Vela is 7th in the Valley with an average of 9.2 rebounds per contest.
On Friday against La Feria, the freshmen game will get underway at 6:30 p.m., preceded by the JV contest at 5 p.m. The Lady Tarpons Varsity game is scheduled for an 8:00 o’clock tip-off.
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