12/11/08
The Española Valley Sundevils used to be known as the Española Hornets before Española and Santa Cruz High Schools merged in 1976 to become Española Valley High School and adopted the Sundevil as their mascot. The old mascot would have liked the way the Sundevils played against the Capital High School jaguars Dec. 4 in the opening round of the Jaguar Invitational tournament at Santa Fe.
Swarming on defense, the Sundevils stung the Jaguars with steals and turnovers. The Sundevils broke an 18-18 tie with a 17-1 run that gave Española a 35-19 lead at halftime, and Española went on to beat host Capital 60-39 to improve to 2-1 on the season.
“This team works very hard,” Española coach Ron Drake said. “We hustle and make things happen from that.”
Junior point guard Melanie Vigil started the Sundevils’ first-half run with a basket, and senior Janelle Martinez followed with a steal, sank a layup and made the ensuing free throw. Another Sundevils’ steal led to another Martinez layup, and Española reeled off 11 unanswered points. After a Capital free throw, Española scored the last eight points of the first half to take a 16-point lead.
Vigil began the third quarter by sinking her second three-pointer of the game, and the Sundevils extended their lead to 49-28 heading into the fourth quarter. Vigil finished with 14 points to lead all scorers.
Besides Vigil, the Sundevils had three other players score in double figures. Janelle Martinez and Megan Martinez each had 11 points, while Nisa Duran added 10.
The victory over Capital, a District 2AAAA rival, advanced Española to the semifinals. There they would face Taos, another future district rival.