The Lady Hawks were oh-so-close a year ago.
They had led big in the first half over Mesa Vista in the 2022 Ben Lujan Tournament championship game. They scored to tie the game with five seconds left. Then, they committed a foul, and watched the game slip away on free throws.
This year, they would not be denied.
Dulce (5-4) won first place at the Ben Lujan Tournament in Pojoaque over the weekend, and got their redemption. They defeated Portales (4-2) 57-41 in the championship, and had to battle bigger schools throughout the tournament.
“We take it as any other team,” Bailey Vigil said. “Any team’s beatable if you have the right mindset.”
At the end, players just said they were “relieved.”
The loss from a year ago fueled Dulce, who plays in 2A, in the end against strong teams from 4A.
“Having it slip last year, and coming back, they were ready,” Dulce coach Alyssa Veneno said. “They wanted to take that and put it behind them. And I think that’s exactly what they did.”
Facing Portales, a strong team that had won their first two games by 25 and 34 points, Dulce led almost the whole game. Vigil scored on the first possession, they led 11-9 after the first quarter and were up 24-17 at halftime.
Dulce worked hard on the rebounds, and consistently scored second-chance points. Portales was still close in the final three minutes, but Dulce pulled away with free throws, and finished the game on a 13-3 run.
“Going in to that next gear, and finishing hard,” Veneno said. “Especially from our rebounds to our defense.”
If there was any doubt left, a basket and foul scored by Kelby Enjady-Vigil with just over a minute left put Dulce up by 11 and all-but ended the game.
Vigil won tournament Most Valuable Player, and Sierra Martinez and Mattie Dale were named to the all-tournament team.
Mattie Dale led the team with 17 points, and Vigil scored 15 points in the win, including eight straight free throws in the fourth quarter that helped the team put the game away at the end.
“We work on free throws all the time,” Veneno said. “I was confident in them going to the line in the end.”
In the first round, the Hawks won 55-4 over Monte Del Sol (0-10), and they faced 4A Pojoaque in the semifinals, where they won 32-21.
Vigil led the Hawks with 11 points against Pojoaque, and three other players scored seven.
In that game, Pojoaque led for most of the first half, before Dulce took a lead coming back in the second half. Again, their offensive rebounding was a difference in the end, and freshman Mattison Vigil hit a big 3-pointer as part of a fourth quarter where they dominated, outscoring the Elkettes 11-2.
But the big and tough tournaments are just beginning for Dulce. They had played earlier in the year at the Gallup tournament, and lost three straight games to big teams. Next week, they head to Aztec for the Rumble in the Jungle. And then they face strong northern teams to start the new year at the Northern Rio Grande tournament.
“It exposes us to different types of tempos,” Veneno said. “It gives them that confidence, that they can match up … and knowing that they’re able to take down (bigger) schools.”