Journey Trejo stands less than 5 feet tall, but she makes her presence on the basketball court known.
“I know a lot of people doubted me because of that,” she said. “Being that I proved them wrong is a good feeling.”
Trejo, a recent graduate of Escalante High School, will continue to play basketball at Baltimore City Community College. She signed her letter of intent at a ceremony at the High School on May 6.
“College basketball has been my dream since I was a child,” she said. “Now that it’s coming true, it’s like kind of surreal.”
The ceremony was during the morning in front of the entire school.
Baltimore Coach Morris “Stretch” Brandon told Trejo at the presentation, “I’m a make you famous.”
Escalante Coach Eric Belser said: “You are going to be tested. You’ve been told that you’re a great player because you are a great player. Now you’re going to go play along with some great players.”
Trejo will go about 2,000 miles away from Chama, and is excited about the opportunity to live in a new place.
“She’s leaving a legacy behind,” said teammate and fellow graduate Felice Baca.
Teammates described a player who is fearless on and off the court, while thoughtful and caring.
“Anything you ask of her, she gets it done,” Baca said. “She’s an all-around player. She may be small, but she’s mighty.”
Her grandmother, Melissa Rivas, described her as a very happy person.
“Every morning she gets up with a big smile,” she said. “She’s lovable, helpful, respectful.”
The biggest step toward a college recruitment came in August 2023. Former Escalante player Eli Gallegos came back to his hometown to put on a basketball camp. Gallegos now lives in southern California and organizes basketball camps there.
When various Escalante students of all ages participated in the camp, it was Trejo that quickly caught Gallegos’s eye. And when they ran a combined-gender scrimmage game, Trejo’s intensity turned up further.
“She blew me away with her quickness, with her ability to handle the ball and run a team,” Gallegos said. “I saw something special in that young girl … She was a level above even the guys who were at that camp.”
He stayed in touch with her during her senior year, and asked if she needed help getting a scholarship.
Gallegos said he plans to do this camp again this year, and keep it going annually. He hopes Trejo is just the first of Northern New Mexico basketball players that he can help find scholarships. He said that after the signing event (which he attended virtually), multiple students approached Belser asking how they could play in college.
But senior year presented a challenge for Trejo and the Lady Lobos. With a new coach, and with a huge class graduating the year before, they were due for a drop-off.
After two years with a 45-13 record, and with the state tournament’s top seed in back-to-back years, Escalante went 10-19 in 2023-24. They snuck into the state tournament as the No. 15 seed, led the second seed in the first half but lost to Tatum by 37.
“When we lost in Tatum, it was tough,” Trejo said. “Everything that we tried to adjust to, they were just all over.”
Her entire high school career has been filled with highs and lows. As a freshman, they went 9-2, but had to forfeit and out-of-state tournament due to COVID infections. The next two years, they went to the state final game, where they were favored but lost. In 2022, they lost the game by one point with six seconds left.
But Gallegos said he never saw Trejo quit despite all the struggles.
While most of her teammates also spent time in track and volleyball, Trejo has always been all basketball all the time. She was the manager with the volleyball team, and did not enjoy the times she had to play in practice.
Rivas has raised her since fourth grade, constantly taking her to the gym or practice.
“Basketball’s her life,” Rivas said. “Basketball here, basketball there. And wherever she goes, we follow.”
But that made senior year tough, with teammates who seemed less committed to her dreams of success. Now, she will be with players who are just as basketball crazed.
“It’s like in my blood, my family we’ve all been raised with basketball,” Trejo said. “I didn’t want to be anywhere else but in the gym. It’s like my second home.”
Trejo plans to study psychology, and wants to be a psychologist after finding a four-year school after two years in Baltimore.
“Just wanting to help people,” Trejo said. “I’ve known that since I was a little girl, whether that was a doctor, or whatever it was, I knew that I wanted to help people.”