The final minute of the Girls 2A state championship game was a flurry of action.
From up by 13 early to down by six points, Escalante was down by three points with 30 seconds left, and Clayton missed an open layup after stealing an inbound pass.
Running quickly on the other end, Emma Maestas drove to the hoop, scored and drew a foul for a chance to tie the game at 44.
But her free throw just rolled out to the right side of the rim. Clayton grabbed the rebound, but Brycelyn Martinez was there to intercept the outlet pass under the basket, and laid in the score to put Escalante ahead at 16 seconds.
Immediately, Clayton’s Emersen Beiland took the inbound pass, ran over a sliding Cipriana Garcia (no call by the officials, and was more likely a block than a charge), ran up the right side of the court (on replay, Beiland stepped very close to the sideline, potentially out of bounds), went straight at Kalese Torrez, and her finger roll from the paint banked off the glass, bounced once off the front of the rim, took a friendly roll and fell through the net.
The Yellowjackets were ahead with under six seconds left. And Escalante coach Stanford Salazar elected not to call timeout, recalling a moment earlier in the game when Clayton coach Clyde Sanchez called a timeout seconds before his own player hit a 3-point shot.
“It was my fault,” said Salazar, who is in his second year at Escalante after moving from Dulce. “I thought since we had that flow right there, and I didn’t want to stop that flow. I probably should have done something a little better there to put my team in a better position.”
Off the inbound, Martinez passed to an open Garcia, but it was too late. Garcia would have had to pull up from near midcourt to have a shot in time. Instead, she ran toward the basket, and her layup went off after the buzzer, signifying Clayton as state champions.
Clayton 48, Escalante 47.
An incredible season for the Lady Lobos, winning 23 games (most in school history), earning the No. 1 seed, and making the final game for just the second time, came up one point short of their first championship on March 12. The current seniors would have been in seventh grade when Escalante lost in the final in 2017, and watched that team as middle schoolers.
“They didn’t quit,” Salazar said.
Stanford Salazar said that the team decided the ending of their 2021 season would be a taboo subject, deeming it too sore for the team.
“It was hard for us,” Maestas said.
After a 9-2 season and earning the No. 4 seed, Escalante had to forfeit from the state tournament due to COVID-19 infections.
But if given the choice, everyone said they would take a heartbreaking loss over not getting a chance at all.
“I’d rather be here, and experience this moment with my team,” Torrez said through tears postgame. “And if I could do it again, I would over and over again.”
If there were nerves in the championship game, they did not show. Escalante scored first, after Clayton scored they added 10 in a row, and were up 16-5 by the end of the first quarter.
“We have prepared since like third grade for making it to the championship,” Martinez said.
Torrez, though, said she had been nervous — but overcame it for 10 first-half points.
“To be completely honest, I don’t think I hide my nerves very well,” Torrez said. “The whole day I was nervous. It’s just something you can’t get ready until you’re ready to. I was very nervous.”
The game was a complete mismatch in playing styles, with Clayton taking 30 seconds or more on offensive possessions and Escalante looking to score as quickly as possible every time they held the ball.
But poor shooting caught up to the Lady Lobos in the end. They only made two 3-pointers in the game. They hit none in the second half, and on only three attempts, often unable to do one of their biggest strengths.
The lead slowly slipped away through the third quarter, where Salazar emphasized his team is usually the strongest. He said they average about 26 points per game in third quarters. They scored just six. And they turned the ball over 15 times in the second half.
Halfway into the fourth quarter, Clayton took their first lead since it was 3-2, and were up 41-35 after a nine-point run capped an 18-4 stretch. Escalante battled back to a 42-42 tie, with Martinez scoring 10 clutch points in the fourth quarter to give the Lady Lobos a chance in the final minute.
Martinez was the star on the stat sheet, with 20 points (16 in the second half) along with 12 rebounds and seven steals. And Torrez, playing in her last game with Escalante (she was also named an all star) scored 12 with 11 rebounds.
“These two right here have produced for us all year,” Salazar said at the postgame press conference. “They were a big, big asset for our team.”
Salazar then lightened the mood by asking when the New Mexico Activities Association would come for a visit to spotlight the team’s success for their social media series — not realizing that representative J.P. Murrieta was in the room behind one of the cameras.
Escalante got past a resilient Peñasco team in the semifinals on March 10 in a 45-31 win, forcing 27 turnovers to close strong after the Panthers battled from an early deficit.
And in the March 8 quarterfinal, the Lady Lobos won by 16 over Menaul with 22 points from Torrez.
Despite the loss, this game may not be the end for the Lady Lobos. Only two seniors depart from this year’s team — Torrez and Hekaila Martinez. Torrez will be especially tough to replace as a massive talent in the post.
But four starters from the junior class — Brycelyn Martinez, Maestas, Garcia and Katelyn Hinds, who grabbed six steals in the semifinal game but fouled out in the final — bring back huge contributions and will continue to be the core for a top contender.