The Española Valley girls basketball team picked up a pair of wins last week to improve to 11-3 on the season.
The Lady Sundevils defeated Santa Fe High School 62-33 Jan. 5 at Santa Fe and mauled Moriarty 50-18 Jan. 9 at Española.
Against the Demonettes, Nisa Duran had 25 points and Marisol Peña scored 12 for the Sundevils.
Española coach Ron Drake spent 10 seasons coaching at Santa Fe and never had a losing year. Since he departed in 2003 Santa Fe has not had a winning season and is 0-10 so far this season.
“I don’t know what’s happened to them,” Drake said.
Against Moriarty, Española played its entire lineup and all 12 players scored. The Sundevils led 21-9 at halftime and 34-13 going into the fourth quarter.
Justine Vigil led the way with 14 points, while Duran and sophomore Desiree Howie each had 10 points for the Sundevils. Howie added eight steals and six rebounds.
Moriarty has fallen on hard times after advancing to the Class AAAA semifinals last season. The Lady Pintos are 3-9 this season.
The Sundevils faced Pojoaque Tuesday (A story about the game will be in the Jan. 21 issue). Española had ended the Elkettes 35-game winning streak Dec. 12, defeating Pojoaque 35-34 in the championship game of the Grants Invitational at Grants.
The Sundevils travel to Aztec for the Lady Tiger Invitational to be held Thursday (1/14) through Saturday. Their opening round opponent will be Bernalillo, a District 2AAAA rival.
“I would have rather played somebody else,” Drake said.
The Sundevils host Capital High School Jan. 19 in their District 2AAAA opener. The Sundevils are ranked fourth in Class AAAA. Kirtland Central is currently ranked first, but the Broncos lost to Thoreau 42-40 Jan. 8 at Kirtland. Española had beaten Thoreau 49-33 Dec. 1 at Thoreau.
“People were telling me Thoreau wasn’t any good,” Drake said. “Then they go and beat Kirtland.”