Facing Mesa Vista, Dulce girls basketball coach Alyssa Veneno said she forgot that they were facing the No. 1 ranked 2A team on both MaxPreps’ algorithm, and the New Mexico Overtime coaches’ poll. To her, it was just another opponent, and perhaps that showed for the team.
The Lady Hawks (12-5) raced out to a 21-3 early lead, and never looked back while becoming the first team of the year to defeat Mesa Vista (13-2), winning 58-40 on Jan. 10.
In their first three games against the Mesa Vista Lady Trojans, Dulce suffered three losses. They lost by one point in Mesa Vista’s first game of the year. At the Ben Lujan Tournament, the Trojans came out ahead 48-46 in the championship game. And at the Northern Rio Grande final, Mesa Vista won 68-53.
“They were just tired of losing to them,” Veneno said. “They needed to win”
But their fourth meeting, on Dulce’s home court, was different from the jump. Dulce had a perfect start, capitalizing off of turnovers and shooting the ball well early.
“It was one of those games where nothing went right for us,” Mesa Vista coach Jesse Boies said. “We couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn, and they couldn’t miss.”
Boies said it was a good loss to wake up the team after an 11-0 start to the year.
They carried that momentum into the Santa Fe Indian School tournament. They cruised to an 88-6 win over the Santa Fe Prep/Waldorf co-op (5-4) in the first round.
In the second round, they faced a big challenge in Navajo Prep (12-3), the No. 3 ranked team in 3A by the coaches’ poll and now the top team on MaxPreps, who had already recorded a pair of 21-point wins over Escalante. Aniya Johnson gave the Trojans fits, scoring 29 points.
Mesa Vista led in the third quarter, but went behind big in the fourth quarter before battling back late.
Navajo Prep went on to win the tournament, defeating 3A No. 2 Santa Fe Indian (14-3) 39-37.
In the third place game, the Lady Trojans easily handled Cuba (4-11) 58-38.
Mesa Vista will start district play Tuesday against McCurdy (0-9), and get to play at Escalante (9-6) on Saturday for the first time this season.
The Hawks face Questa (5-9) on Tuesday, and next play at McCurdy on Jan. 23. In just a four-team district, those challenges do not start for them until Jan. 28.
Even after a pair of losses, the Trojans still have the pressure of being the top ranked team, and Boies knows it, and feels it from every opponent.
“We could’ve played schools for underwater basket weaving and they would’ve had a target for us,” Boies said.