The best way to slide three losses in four outings to side and losing the state’s No. 1 overall ranking is by coming out the next week and winning three straight games — and two in dominant fashion.
The Pojoaque Valley High School girls basketball team turned their fortunes around after a tough stint that featured losses to Carlsbad, Gallup and Santa Fe Indian School and got back to their winning ways this past week with victories over Española Valley, Taos and Bloomfield High School – all while improving to (2-0) in District 2-4A to sit atop the standings.
The Elkettes (17-3) perfect week took some serious work in the beginning, as they found themselves trailing 17-3 in the first quarter of their district opening game Jan. 22 at Española. The Lady Sundevils rode a hot shooting start from the perimeter with a barrage of five 3-pointers, including three from the right hand of Kaylinn Martinez.
However, the resilient Elkettes rallied to tie the game at 17 apiece by the end of the first quarter behind six points from Adrianna Quintana, and the senior would go on to nail two free throws with 25.5 seconds remaining in the game to put the finishing touches on the 56-53 come-from-behind win. She finished with 11 points and Ashten Martinez had 15, while Martinez had a game-high 26 for the Lady Sundevils.
“That wag big and it shows again that we can play with anybody in the state,” Pojoaque head coach Seledon Martinez said. “We got to stop putting ourselves in these situations and digging ourselves out of a hole, but hey, Española was red hot.”
Game two of the week featured a home district matchup against the Taos Lady Tigers, and the Elkettes sent them packing on Jan. 25 with a convincing 51-22 victory.
The Lady Tigers managed just three points the entire first half as Pojoaque headed to the locker room with a commanding 27-3 lead. The Elkettes used a scoring-by-committee approach as Taylor Roybal poured in a game-high 11 points, Ashten Martinez pitched in 10 and Quintana and Michaela Martinez both added nine.
The Elkettes remained at Ben Luján Gymnasium Jan. 26 and finished off the triplet of wins with another stifling defensive effort, this time to separate from Bloomfield for a 56-31 non-district win.
Pojoaque totaled 18 steals on the night, with a majority coming in the first half in route to a 29-18 advantage at the break.
With just over four minutes remaining in the second quarter, Roybal recorded one of the 18 thefts and found a streaking Michaela Martinez in transition, who was able to score a bucket while getting fouled to push Pojoaque’s lead to 20-12 with 3:58 remaining in the second quarter.
She was unable to finish the three-point play opportunity, but Roybal sneaked in for the offensive rebound and put back to give the Elkettes their first double digit lead, 22-12.
Bloomfield held tough in the third quarter and trailed 38-28 entering the fourth, but Pojoaque’s defense amped up the pressure another decibel and held the Lady Bobcats scoreless from the field in the final eight minutes. Bloomfield’s three points in the quarter were all earned from the charity stripe.
“The girls adjusted really well and they finally got into a rhythm on defense,” Seledon Martinez said. “We had the right combinations on the court at the right time and I think Bloomfield’s conditioning was a little bit weak and they had to travel. When you have to travel like that, your legs get taken from you.”
All 10 players who suited up scored for Pojoaque and this time it was Ashten Martinez who led the way with 14 points. Tonni Aquino and Quintana had 10 apiece, Michaela Martinez worked the glass with a team-high six rebounds and Roybal had four steals along with Quintana.
Seledon Martinez said the intentions are to get every player touches and to get every player into the game. They’ve exhibited the balance to where any player can step up on any night to lead the team and Quintana has joined that group as of late.
The senior averaged 10.6 points per game over the last three games and has been taking care of the dirty work inside. She’s not only getting to the free throw line, but she’s converting and did so for a combined 12-of-15 effort against Española, Taos and Bloomfield.
“She’s one of those seniors who’s starting to realize it’s getting down to the end,” Seledon Martinez said. “She’s strong, so don’t go let her hit you. She got me last year and I was soar for a week.”
Quintana and the rest of the Elkettes need not worry at this time about the end as they still have six regular season games remaining on the schedule, plus the district tournament and state tournament in March.
Pojoaque will lace it up again on the road for their third district game at Moriarty High School against the Lady Pintos (9-11) at 6 p.m., Saturday.