After his team had suffered two straight lopsided setbacks in non-district games, Española Valley girls basketball coach Ron Drake was worried as his team prepared to take on the Los Alamos Lady Hilltoppers Jan. 31 in Los Alamos in a key District 2AAAA contest.
“It would be tough to have three straight losses,” he said.
The Lady Sundevils had lost at Moriarty 39-17 Jan. 24 and at Shiprock 76-47 Jan. 29, but the Sundevils put their coach’s worries to rest with a 55-46 defeat of the Hilltoppers. The win puts Española in first place in District 2AAAA with a 3-0 record. Los Alamos fell to second with a 2-1 record.
The Hilltoppers’ gym was an unlikely spot for the Sundevils to end their losing streak. Since 2001, when the Sundevils and Hilltoppers both became members of District 2AAAA, Española had never defeated Los Alamos on the Hilltoppers’ home court.
“We’ve been wanting this game since the beginning of the season,” senior Megan Martinez said. “I was thinking about it all night.”
The Sundevils had perhaps been guilty of focusing too much on Los Alamos in their two previous games prior to Los Alamos.
“We were focusing more on this game because it was district,” junior Nisa Duran said. “We really played with a lot of heart.”
Drake was guilty of looking past Moriarty and Shiprock, too.
“From Monday (1/26) through Wednesday (1/28), we practiced for Los Alamos,” he said. “This was the game I wanted, and I think the team could see that.”
The Hilltoppers had a decided height advantage over the Sundevils. The tallest Española player (junior Marisol Peña) stands just 5 foot, 8 inches, while the Hilltoppers have five players on their roster standing 5 foot, 10 inches or taller.
The Sundevils made up the difference with a swarming defense that accumulated 24 steals. Duran had nine of them.
“Playing defense is what we’re really good at,” Duran said.
After Los Alamos took a 5-3 lead in the first quarter, the defense began making a difference. Fueled by back-to-back steals, Duran scored on two quick layups to give the Sundevils a lead that they never relinquished. Española led 22-17 at the end of the first half.
Martinez caught fire in the third quarter and scored 12 points to help the Sundevils hold off a surge by the Hilltoppers. Los Alamos began to find players inside cutting to the basket and drew to within three points of the Sundevils, but Martinez buried a three-pointer and added another to keep the Hilltoppers at bay. Española led 39-34 at the end of the third quarter.
Duran scored to start the fourth quarter and then picked the pocket of a Los Alamos guard. She scored on a breakaway layup. Melanie Vigil added another steal and layup to give the Sundevils an 11-point lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter. The Sundevils held off the Hilltoppers the rest of the way, Duran finishing the game in appropriate fashion with one last steal and layup to give Española the victory.
Duran finished with 18 points, as did Martinez, who played her best game since returning from Washington, D.C., where she played with high school’s mariachi band at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
Martinez arrived back in Española Jan. 22 and had scored just 14 points total in the three games prior to the Los Alamos game.
“I had to get my confidence back,” Martinez said. “Now I’m getting back in the flow.”