At 3-2 in District 31-3A (7- 19 overall), Raymondville High School's varsity girls basketball team found itself in a three- way tie for second place in its conference at the start of this week.

" Right now we are in a three-way tie for second place (with West Oso in first place) between us, Lyford and Orange Grove," Head Coach Felix Silva said. "Three teams advance to the playoffs meaning one of us is going to be left out at the end of the season, so it is anyone's game right now."

The Lady Bearkats brought themselves into playoff contention by defeating Lyford 51 to 26 this past Friday. Natalie Janes (15 points) and Onana Flores (10) led their team in scoring. Also making baskets were Stephanie Perez (eight), Amanda Soria (six), Miranda Capetillo (five), Abbie Anna Rivas (four), Anissa Flores (two) and Kathy Garcia (one).

"Lyford was coming in hot after winning three in a row and we had lost our last two games," Silva said. "But our girls played outstanding defense, causing Lyford all kinds of problems while hitting lots of layups."

Both teams traded punches early on, before Raymondville took command.

"We battled back during a good first quarter, we were down by 10-9," Silva said. " They scored the first two points of the second quarter and then we kept them scoreless from that point on until 7: 20 of the fourth period. Meanwhile, we went on a nice scoring run"

Friday's win broke a twogame losing streak for Raymondville. The Lady Kats had previously stomached narrow losses to Orange Grove (40-39 on January 13) and Corpus Christi West Oso (38-29 on January 17).

" Against West Oso , we battled and kept it close for most of the game," Silva said. "We were outscored by eight points in both the second and third quarters, rallied to come within eight but eventually lost by nine. West Oso is undefeated right now and we are the team to come the closest to beating them so far this season. Everyone else has lost to West Oso by 17 or more points."

Silva believes his players will succeed once they begin coercing their opponents into turning over the ball more.

"We need to stay focused on our defensive pressure," Silva said. "Our three district wins have all been blowouts when we have played good defense which has given us plenty of easy layups. We have not been as effective on defense in our two district losses because we don't get as many easy layups. It all comes down to whether or not we are finishing up at the basket."

Raymondville' s defensive pressure faltered in both of its conference losses.

“We missed a lot of those opportunities against West Oso which might have given us a 10-point lead early on.” Silva said. “Same thing with Orange Grove to whom we lost by one point. We also missed all mine of our free throw attempts against Orange Grove.”

The Lady Bearkats varsity and junior varsity basketball teams host Robstown at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Friday.