The goal for Mandy Montoya and Peñasco was not to have the best record or the highest seed.
Instead, Montoya, the team’s coach and the school’s athletic director, planned a schedule filled with top opponents in hopes that it would prepare them to compete with the best and peak at the right time. And that effort might be starting to pay off for them.
The Lady Panthers (13-11, 6-3 in district play) scored their biggest win of the season on Thursday, defeating Mesa Vista (21-4, 7-2) on their home court 57-46 to knock the Trojans off the top of the district despite their yearlong success to this point. Mesa Vista has now lost two of the last three games after a 20-2 start.
“We don’t care about rankings,” Montoya said. “We haven’t paid attention to rankings all year. We’ve just got to be better every game. One percent better every game.”
With Escalante (17-7, 8-1) winning big over Mora (6-17, 1-7) on Thursday, and as a heavy favorite to finish their regular season against McCurdy (1-22, 1-8), it seems all but certain that the Lady Lobos will win the district title for the third straight season. And while the Lady Trojans were the prohibitive favorite for the state title for much of the year, Montoya now estimates that the 2A class has about 12 teams of which any could get hot and win state.
“It’s going to come down to matchups, it’s going to come down to who’s healthy, who’s playing well,” she said.
Peñasco scored first, and Alyssa Atencio was rolling to start the game. She hit 3-pointers on the team’s first possession, and scored the Panthers’ first 10 points.
“Alyssa put in a ton of work in the offseason,” Montoya said. “That kid was in an empty gym shooting 3s and just working on her pull-up jumper. It paid off.”
“She got the bench and the whole team hyped up,” said Peñasco freshman Rochelle Lopez
Mesa Vista, after a slow start, found a bit of offensive rhythm to finish the first quarter with 16 points, but they slowed down again and led by just two at halftime.
By the third quarter, it was clear that Tana Lopez’s 3-pointers — she hit six in the game — were the only thing keeping the Trojans in the game. Mesa Vista started to pull away with a five-point lead halfway through the third quarter, but then went cold.
From that point, Peñasco scored an 18-3 run over the next five minutes, taking a 10-point lead with five minutes left. Mesa Vista looked like they might have a chance after a steal while trailing by seven points within two minutes left; but they missed a layup, then committed an intentional foul to essentially seal the game.
“We all wanted to get a win tonight,” Rochelle Lopez said. “We just all had heart tonight. We didn’t give up.”
Tana Lopez scored 25 points in the game, but Rochelle Lopez for Peñasco bested her with 26. Despite two fouls early in the first quarter, the freshman came back for a big night.
“Rochelle brings that every night,” Montoya said. “She don’t play like a freshman. The kid was our manager as a seventh-grader, she probably knows my offense better than me.”
Mesa Vista finishes their regular season on Saturday facing Mora at home for senior night, where they look to rebound after a tough week. Peñasco plays Questa (9-14, 3-5) at home to finish their season on Saturday. The two could likely rematch in a district semifinal next week.
“Right now, we’re in a rut,” Mesa Vista coach Jesse Boies said. “Right now, I still believe in them. In my eyes, we’re still number one.”
The Mesa Vista junior varsity team took a lead in the second half when they held Peñasco scoreless in the third quarter, and won 33-27 in their last game of the season (Mora does not have a junior varsity team). The players were already asking when summer ball started.