The Pilot Point Lady Cats captured their first district win of the season, defeating the Valley View Lady Eagles 46-43 at home Jan. 3.
The Lady Cats came from behind in the second half and fought their way to victory with defense and timely shot-making to take their first win in district play since the 2021-22 season.
“I’m so proud of them,” head girls basketball coach K.J. Stastny said. “We were down by 9 [points] at halftime, two of our starters had three fouls, and they stuck with it. Our kids were extremely coachable and did what they had to do to get the win. They were cool, calm, collected and absolutely outstanding at the end.”
Both teams came out firing in the opening quarter with Valley View taking the early lead 12-8.
Pilot Point made it a 1-point game midway through the second quarter, but Valley View went on a 13-5 run to take a 9-point lead at 26-17 into the half.
The second half would tell a different story, with the Lady Cats’ defense locking down the Lady Eagles and holding them to 3 points in the third quarter.
Pilot Point translated the defensive performance into a 33-29 lead as the teams entered the final quarter.
The Lady Eagles regained their footing, retaking the lead at 36-33 midway through the
Martin Edwards/The Post-Signal fourth quarter.
The Lady Cats refused to go away, tying the score at 43 after guard Braillen Brocato found forward McKayla Rushing cutting to the rim for 2 with under a minute left.
“[Coach Stastny] is always telling us to look for backdoor cuts, so whenever I saw that opening, I went for it,” Rushing said.
On Pilot Point’s next possession, point guard Madison Coronado delivered the dagger with a 3-point bomb that gave the Lady Cats the win.
“She’s one of our better 3-point shooters, and when she got the ball, her feet were set, she held her follow-through, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s going in,’” Stastny said. “This was one of those [games] where you hold your breath and you hope it goes in, but she knew what she was doing. She was ready.”
Coronado cited the work she puts in on her jump shot outside of practice to help her prepare for the moment.
“I [work on] different shots just to get better at shooting,” she said. “I was literally praying that shot went in when I let it go because we needed to win this game, [and] I wanted to do it for my team.”
Coronado led the Lady Cats in scoring with a 16-point performance, followed by Brocato, who finished with 14 points.
Stastny also highlighted the performances of guard Austin Crow, who contributed multiple steals, and the low post duo of Jissel Esparza and Alliyah Smith, who controlled the boards.
“We’ve been telling the girls, ‘You can do this. You’re winners,’” she said. “I hope this makes believers out of them because our main goal for them this year is not just to compete but for them to walk away mentally tough and resilient, and hopefully this solidifies that so we can go into these other games and come out with another win.”
