Española girls basketball had failed to break 50 points all season.
But in their most important game of the season, the offense had their best game yet, and their biggest margin of victory this year in a 19-point win.
The Lady Sundevils (12-14), still led by interim coaches, took down Taos (8-19) in the second round of the District 2-4A tournament, an important win for the team’s tournament hopes.
“Their hard work and dedication paid off,” said interim coach Carlos Branch. “They played a really good game team-wise.”
Team head coach Joe Estrada and assistant Lando Alire remain away from the team for undisclosed reasons.
Española sits firmly on the bubble of the 16-team state tournament. As of the most recent update on Monday, they rank 17th in the MaxPreps ranking, and they are just outside the Top 16 in the most recent NMOT Coaches Poll.
Taos scored first, but Española quickly took an early lead on back-to-back 3-pointers from Katie Alire and Alyanna Medina, and they started strong with 16 points and a lead by the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the Sundevils led by nine points.
In the second half, the Sundevils held the Tigers off the board for the first seven minutes, starting with nine straight points and they led by 18. And the Sundevils added 13 more points in the fourth quarter to hit 50 and leave Taos in the dust.
Through the game, the Sundevils showed different lineups with varying skill sets, and turned a press defense on and off.
Rhianna Padilla led the team with 16 points, but the scoring was largely a team effort, with six players at five or more points.
“It was just a total team effort,” Branch said. “That’s a thing that we preach. We want to give up good shots for great shots, and whoever’s open gets the great shots. That speaks to the learning and understanding and the development of these girls to be unselfish.
Next for the Sundevils, they will travel to Moriarty (15-10) on Thursday, looking to reverse an overtime loss from Feb. 7. The winner of that game plays Los Alamos (18-7) for a district championship.
“We only had one practice before we played them the first time, and we lost to them by one in overtime” Branch said, referring to when he took over as interim coach. “So, I think the fact that we’ve had more game time, more practice, more learning. We’ve just got to play Española Valley basketball.”