RIO RANCHO – Even before the final whistle blew Thursday morning, the Mesa Vista players on the bench – all five of the Lady Trojans girls basketball starters – were standing and already celebrating the program’s first-ever appearance in the Class 2A state championship game.
“That was a tough one, it was a tough battle to get here. Let me tell you that,” Mesa Vista coach Jesse Boies said after beating Laguna Acoma 48-28 at the Rio Rancho Event Center.
“But these girls did it,” he said. “They stayed composed for 32 minutes. We had our ups, downs, but they did it. They stayed composed, they fought, got tough, they got physical, they played smart. It was a whole team effort.”
The top-seeded Lady Trojans (28-2) advanced to play on Friday at 5 p.m. at The Pit in Albuquerque.
The No. 4 Lady Hawks (26-5) presented a classic runs game, with Mesa Vista using a 10-0 first-quarter burst to go up 15-7 as Isabella Gallegos, who had nine points and Charlene Archuleta each hitting 3-pointers in the run.
The Lady Trojans pushed the lead out to 21-10 in the second quarter, then Laguna closed the half with a 6-0 run of its own, with four of the points coming four line, but it could have been worse as the Lady Hawks also missed four from the line.
And Mesa Vista opened the third quarter with a 7-2 advantage, with Valery Martinez scoring five of those points.
And again, the Lady Hawks responded, scoring six consecutive, to close within 24-20.
But that’s as close as it would get.
Aaliyah Boies — who finished with 18 points, eight assists and five steals – hit a shot with five seconds left in the quarter to send the Trojans into the final quarter up 30-24.
And then it was lights out.
“I told them we’re gonna start attacking them,” Jesse Boies said. “When you take it in there, expect to get hammered, or if you don’t hold the ball, and we’re gonna rotate the ball back out. But I think that was the game-changer for us was attacking them.”
The coach attributes the team’s success to its summer work going up against much bigger schools.
“Every year, we start the summer off just with going against the big dogs, the Volcano (Vistas), the Centennials,” Jesse Boies said. “And there’s no other way to get tough but to get beat up, you know? I mean, so we got beat up. We learned from it, though. We learned from getting beat up. And these girls were just hungry. They’re hungry for it. We’re not done yet.”
And the players have come to appreciate each and every scrape and bruise.
“I think it gets us stronger,” Martinez, who scored nine points, said. “Especially mentally, like we’re in the game. It doesn’t bring us down. I mean, it helps us a lot getting beat up because it prepares us for this, these games.”
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Mesa Vista 54, Jal 42
Aaliyah Boies scored 27 points with seven steals and Aubrey Maestas scored 16 points as the Lady Trojans solidly and steadily built a comfortable lead, never quite pulling away, but never quite letting the ninth-seeded Lady Panthers (18-12) back in the game, either.
“We picked it up in the second half coming in,” Jesse Boies said. “We knew we were in for a dog fight. We know the district that Jal comes from. We know that that district is just solid. So we knew that they were going to be one of the toughest No. 9 seeds that is in this tournament, probably 1A through 5A.”
The Lady Trojans built their lead to 47-28 midway through the fourth quarter and they knew they were advancing.
“These two (Martinez and his daughter) came out and balled out. The rest of the girls balled out,” Jesse Boies said. “I liked our match-up with Jal. It tested us. It got us ready for the next two rounds. So I think it was a great thing.”
It was the second consecutive strong game for Martinez.
“I’m just going in confident, trusting in my team, trusting in our grind,” she said. “We put a lot of work in. We put a lot of shots up. And if you just come out timid or scared your shots aren’t going to fall. We’ve got to believe we’re going to make it.”