Palmview Lady Lobos secure back-to-back district titles
The Palmview Lady Lobos basketball team is on a historic run.
The team became the first in program history to clinch a second-consecutive district title.
“It feels amazing, it's really good to have my teammates here. Just combined going through ups and downs, and just clinching that back to back district champions,” Lady Lobos senior point guard Nikki Flores said.
But it hasn't been a smooth cruise to victory for the team.
Right before the season started, the team took to new coaching direction as Katy Garza and Tino Casas stepped in as the co-interim head coaches.
“We were hurting for numbers. The program was hurting for numbers,” Casas said.
The team only has eight total players.
“Coming in with only two returning starters, and then two underclassmen that were freshmen last year, so they were pretty young,” Garza said.
Flores also faced her own battles this season as she played with juvenile arthritis in her knees.
“That muscle joint — there's some type of weakness in it and it's weakening,” Flores said. “So it just feels like your bones are just crushing up against each other."
Her diagnosis came five years ago, but Flores’ battle remains constant on the court.
“There has been days where I’d just be crying even like through the game because I wanted to push through it and get this win,” Flores said. “We all deserved this."
Flores said her teammates and love for the game are what keep her going strong on the court as she inches towards 1,500 career points.
The Lobos are looking to continue making history by making it past the first round of playoffs next week.
“We've never done that,” Lady Lobos senior center Mia Rojas said. “We're just really hoping we could push through it cause last year we really wanted to but we fell short.”
Last year, the Lady Lobos lost to Gregory Portland by just three points. The team said they hope the seeds they're planting this season will help bloom more players into the Lady Lobos basketball program.
The Lady Lobos will take on Laredo Martin tuesday at 6 p.m.
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