A year ago, Escalante was 10 seconds away from a state championship. But their season ended in heartbreak.
Now, they get a second chance at their glory.
“It made us want to get it that much more,” senior Cipriana Garcia said. “We took this season, we took it personal last year. So, we were in the gym nonstop.”
The No. 1 seed Lady Lobos, undeterred by an 8 a.m. tipoff, used a third-quarter surge and a dominant defense to take down No. 4 Capitan 46-33 in the state basketball tournament semifinal on Tuesday at the Rio Rancho Events Center.
After Capitan used a 10-0 run to take a four-point lead early in the third quarter, coach Bryan Gonzales held off on using timeouts, and Escalante managed to make adjustments on the fly. They immediately answered with a 15-1 run of their own, and dominated the rest of the game. From the point that Capitan led 21-17, Escalante outscored them 29-12 the rest of the way.
“It’s just our energy,” Garcia said. “We just feed off of everybody’s energy on the team. Once everybody has energy, we just keep rolling with it.”
“I wasn’t really too worried about it,” Escalante coach Bryan Gonzales said of the run. “If they would’ve hit another basket, then I would’ve (called timeout). But, the reason why I don’t, is because they need to learn how to play through that sometimes too. And it seemed like a switch went on after they made that basket.”
The Lady Lobos forced 25 turnovers in the game, and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds to give themselves an advantage.
“They got us sped up,” Capitan coach Jason Lee said. “Their zone trap is really good. They fly around in it. And we didn’t handle it very well.”
Brycelyn Martinez led Escalante with 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting, 13 coming in the second half, and added 11 rebounds. Emma Maestas had 11 rebounds, seven of which came in the first quarter.
They won despite 26 turnovers on their end, including 11 in the second quarter, and missed shots from their guards — giving them room to improve even after a big win. For Escalante’s benefit, most of their turnovers came close to the basket, and often as they were attacking downhill, giving them time to set up on defense.
That energy has been the guiding force for Escalante over the past three seasons, with loud fan support and a bench that cheers for every point.
Capitan won the tipoff and hit a 3-pointer, but Garcia immediately answered with a three of her own. Escalante’s swarming defense forced seven turnovers in the quarter, and after it took a few minutes for the offense to warm up, they took a six-point lead.
“We weren’t going game speed at first,” Gonzales said. “Once we picked up the tempo, it got a lot better for us.”
But things came apart in the second quarter on offense, with the Lobos turning the ball over 11 times and scoring just four points. Capitan scored the last five points of the quarter, but Escalante still led by one at halftime.
“We never give up,” Martinez said. “We knew what we had to do.”
Late in the half, Capitan found soft spots in the defense to get shots at the rim, but Escalante adjusted to clamp down.
But the Tigers scored the first five points in the second half, until Escalante answered with their big run. They led by 10 points before a late three by Capitan ended the third quarter, and they kept expanding their lead through the fourth quarter.
For the final minute, senior Emma Lopez and sophomore Ashley Gilmore came in off the bench for some state tournament experience.
The Lady Lobos will play Friday in The Pit against the winner between No. 3 Laguna-Acoma and No. 7 Texico, who play Thursday evening.
“It feels good,” Martinez said. “But we still have a job to do. Now we’re focused on tomorrow.”