Española Valley High School girls basketball coach Joe Estrada and assistant Lando Alire are both away from the team and the high school (where Estrada is a physical education coach) due to a “personnel matter”.
Española superintendent Holly Martinez said the two have been away from the team since Feb. 3, and have now missed two games starting with a game against Pojoaque on Feb. 4. She declined to state any reason for their absence.
Carlos Branch is currently the interim team coach, while Sandra Gonzales, who has been an assistant with the team all season, is now the lead assistant. Española cross country and track coach Daniel Velasquez is also assisting with the team and coaching junior varsity.
“Honestly, I think the girls have been doing pretty well,” Gonzales said. “They know Coach Branch, they’ve known him for many years. I think they just took a warm welcome to him.”
Senior Rhianna Padilla said the team was not told much about the situation.
“It kind of got thrown at us real quick,” she said. “We’re working really well together (with interim coaches) learning and playing together as a team.”
On the court, meanwhile, the Sundevils (10-13, 2-4 in district) suffered a heartbreaking loss in overtime at home to Moriarty (13-10, 4-2) on Wednesday, as they remain on the bubble of a state tournament berth. The Sundevils had chances to win the game, but missed a shot at the end of regulation when tied, and down by one turned the ball over in the closing seconds of overtime.
Missed free throws — 21 missed out of 38 attempts — killed the Sundevils in a game where every point mattered. In the first half, Española was 6-for-18 from the free-throw line.
The Sundevils are bolstered by the return of Unica May, who played her third game of the season after returning from an offseason knee injury.
“She brings a lot of strength inside,” Gonzales said. “She’s a good rebounder, she’s a good passer, she’s a scorer. She brings a lot.”
Española scored first after Moriarty missed free throws on their first possession, but went down 12-10 after the first quarter. The Pintos hit a buzzer beater at halftime to lead 19-14.
Española battled back with a strong third quarter to lead 28-26 at the end of the third, and led 40-33 in the final two minutes.
Leading by two, the Sundevils turned the ball over with 23 seconds left. Moriarty missed their shot, but grabbed an offensive rebound and drew a foul, then hit both shots to tie the game with 15 seconds left. At the buzzer, Alyanna Medina got near the basket, but lost balance as her shot missed, and looked for a foul call but got none, and the game headed to overtime.
Moriarty quickly grabbed a five-point lead to start overtime, but the Sundevils battled back and took a lead. With the game tied in the final minute, Medina drew a foul and made one of two free throws to take the lead.
Moriarty missed a free throw, and Padilla grabbed a rebound. But the Pintos stole the ball and made a basket to take the lead with 12 seconds left. And Española turned the ball over on the other end, and then failed to foul as time ran out.
In the fourth quarter, after a collision, Padilla felt weird in her finger, then looked to see it bent out of place. She went straight to athletic trainer Celina Velasquez and told her to “pop it back”, though she had never experienced an injury of the sort before. Velasquez obliged (while I, being squeamish, had to look away), and Padilla immediately tried to reenter play. An official said she had to leave the court due to the stoppage, so instead Padilla went straight to the scorer’s table and went back on the court seconds later with a slight wrap on her finger.
Padilla said it did not hurt at the time, but started feeling sore after the game.
Medina was the leading scorer with 15 points. Padilla scored just three points, while she had more help from teammates than usual in a strong performance.
“Sometimes, I feel the need that, like, I have to score,” she said. “Because I need to. I know what I can do. But it’s not always about me, I have to trust my team to play together and move the ball. But it takes a lot of pressure off me as well not always having to have the ball.”
Earlier in the night, both the younger Sundevil teams showed strong offenses. The junior varsity team won 51-33 and the C team won 53-32.
Española next plays Friday at Los Alamos (15-7, 5-0) for their second-to-last regular-season game. The Sundevils will need to finish strong to reach the state tournament.
“I hope that we can grow from what we’ve had in the past, and we can compete and make a run at state,” Gonzales said. “We just have to compete these next few games, and we actually have to win. We have to win.”