The Española Valley High School girls basketball team was slated to play Aztec High School, Dec. 8, in the Rio Rancho High School Basketball Tournament.
On the morning of Dec. 7, the high school experienced a school shooting. When the Lady Tigers went home to Aztec the night of Dec. 7, they did not come back to the tournament.
The tragedy left the Lady Sundevils with a day of rest in the three-game tournament.
Instead of playing on Dec. 8, they came back to Española to practice and prepare for the final game of the tournament.
They first had to play the tournament hosts, Rio Rancho. The Lady Rams, who compete in division 6A, have one loss so far in the season. The Lady Sundevils ended the first round game, Dec. 7, with a loss, 48-37. The Lady Rams would go on to win the entire tournament.
Española stuck with Rio Rancho for the majority of the game, down by three points at the beginning of the third quarter.
“I think we went in pretty confident,” junior Kaylee Chavez said.
Rio Rancho’s strong post play proved to make the difference, according to Española head coach Johnny Abeyta.
The Lady Rams have two strong post players, Mitchel Mortensen and Kamirah Decker. Mortensen is listed at 6-foot-3, and Decker at 6-foot-2.
Española does not have any players in that height range, the closest is Dulce Maldonado at 5-foot-10.
After the Lady Sundevils fell to the towering Rio Rancho, they faced off against another 6A opponent, Dec. 9, Oñate High School, from Las Cruces.
Again, they took a loss from the higher division team, this time by a score of 57-34.
While Abeyta felt his players battled and competed against Rio Rancho, he did not see the same energy against Oñate.
He was unsure if the Aztec shooting had rattled the girls. Chavez called it an “off day.”
At this point, the Lady Sundevils have a 3-4 record, which is the product of a difficult, early season schedule.
Four of their seven opponents have been from division 6A and have lost to one team in their division.
“All in all, I’m pleased with the girls that we have had since the beginning of the season,” Abeyta said.
He hopes the challenging games in the first half of the season will properly prepare the team for when district play rolls around. So far, he has been satisfied with the progress he has seen from his young team.