Nine games into this young season, there’s no shame for the Dulce High School girls basketball team as the Lady Hawks sit a 5-4 overall after their trip to the 2018 Ben Luján Tournament hosted at Pojoaque Valley High School.
All four of Dulce’s losses have come against higher-classed opponents and some bruises have come along the way, figuratively and literally.
Dulce head coach Stanford Salazar said he gave his girls time off before the tournament to air dry blisters on their feet — and they took some more bruising from the tournament hosts in the semifinals.
The Lady Hawks had the towering task of taking on Class 4A’s No. 1 ranked team in the Elkettes in the semifinals Dec. 21, and they left Ben Luján Gymnasium with a 63-44 loss.
Trailing 31-14 at halftime, the Lady Hawks played inspiring ball in the third quarter, outscoring the Elkettes 24-11 to get within four points (42-38) heading into the final eight minutes.
“We started penetrating the gaps a little bit more,” Salazar said. “That led to some kick outs and the 3’s finally started dropping.”
Brannon Vigil hit three 3-pointers for Dulce in the quarter and scored a team-high 15 points and Brooke Vigil scored 10 for the game.
The Lady Hawks’ third quarter comeback was built on defense, as their hands became active and their traps forced Pojoaque into 18 total turnovers on the night.
However, during the fourth quarter, that effort began to fade and the Elkettes capitalized on several break away baskets to outscore Dulce 21-6 in the final eight minutes.
“They started to get behind us on our press and we got a little tired,” Salazar said. “Our bench started to show our age too.”
The Elkettes’ Taylor Roybal helped the team separate with nine second quarter points as she scored the first seven to open the quarter and finished the game with 11. Michaela Martinez had a team-high 13 points and Adrianna Quintana — who also became active in the second quarter with five points — finished with 12.
“I go way back with Stanford and I knew it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk,” Pojoaque head coach Seledon Martinez said. “He always prepares his team well and his kids have heart. But, to that point, so do mine and we bent again but we didn’t break. The run they made on us (in the third quarter) was expected.”
Pojoaque’s bigs in Ashten Martinez, Alicia Sanchez and Tonni Aquino made things difficult for Dulce on the glass, as the Elkettes snagged 41 total rebounds. Sanchez led all players with nine.
“We’re one of the few teams in the North that is blessed to have a couple big girls,” Seledon Martinez said. “Plus, we’re missing Camille (Cordova) right now and she’s a heck of a rebounder.”
Salazar said the wear and tear Pojoaque’s bigs placed upon his players as the game went on took them out of technique.
“We had to have done a better job at rebounding and boxing out,” he said. “That was our plan. Get a hand on 21 (Ashten Martinez), but we started to just watch the game and we got way out of position.”
Dulce opened the tournament in dominant fashion Dec. 20 in a 72-24 rout of Tierra Encantada Charter School.
The Lady Hawks led 22-3 after the first quarter after starting the game on a 10-0 run. They added another 18 in the second to take a 40-11 lead at halftime. They held the Lady Alacranes to scoring quarters of three, seven, nine and four points.
Dulce was held to five points in a slow, complacent played third quarter, but they would respond with 27 in the fourth.
“We kinda laid back a little and our coach didn’t want us to take them lightly,” Brooke Vigil said. “He wanted us to just keep going and going.”
Caitlin Duncan and Brooke Vigil led the Lady Hawks with 11 points apiece and Lauryn Vigil had 10.
Both Vigils benefited from Dulce’s smothering defensive effort in the first half, often receiving passes wide open under the basket after steals and forced turnovers from their backcourt players. They also asserted themselves on the glass, snagging several offensive rebounds and putting home easy put back baskets.
“We’re always focused on boxing out and getting those rebounds,” Brooke Vigil said. “We’re always there to help each other out. Our guards did a great job at getting steals and that’s where we got most of our points from those little layups and that sets us off to pass the ball and move it around.”
Still, Salazar was unpleased with his team’s frequent missed opportunities on easy baskets. The Lady Hawks missed 11 layups in both the first and second halves, leaving a potential 22 points on the floor.
“That’s something that when we play the bigger games, we’re going to need them,” Salazar said. “We’ve been doing that a lot lately and somewhere down the line we’re going to have to focus a little bit more and concentrate more to square up and make sure we get the two points. It’s been our Achilles heel.”
The Lady Hawks finished the tournament in fourth place after falling Dec. 22 to Santa Fe Indian School 52-32.
The Lady Braves built their lead to 30-15 at halftime and the damage was done in the second quarter behind the Indian School’s 11-1 run to open the quarter, which finally ended when Dulce scored its first field goal of the quarter with 2:35 remaining when Brooke Vigil finally put home a basket inside.
Dulce lost guard Caitlin Duncan to an apparent left knee injury with 6:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Hawks will be off until they return to Pojoaque Jan. 3-5 for the Northern Rio Grande Tournament.