Cipriana Garcia used to play for Jesse Boies. Now she plays against him.
Boies, now the coach for Mesa Vista girls basketball, used to coach AAU teams, which included his daughter, Bella, and Garcia.
“We talk on the court,” he said. “When she’s passing by, she’s passing by, she’ll hit a 3, and point at me, or something like that. It’s a love-love there.”
And after the game, a Mesa Vista win, he comforted her and gave reassurance.
“I said, hey, you’re a leader, dude,” Boies said. “You keep leading, they’ll follow. You guys looked a lot better tonight than you did at the NRG (tournament).”
In front of almost entirely full stands, the Lady Trojans (15-2, 2-0 in district) needed their best effort, and they found it to take down Escalante (10-7, 1-1) 72-57 in a game that highlighted exceptionally strong basketball from both teams.
“We’re all pumped,” said Mesa Vista center Brittni Suazo. “Now, I think, within our district we could possibly take on anyone. And make it all the way to state in the Pit.”
For the Mesa Vista girls, it was their first time beating an Escalante team since 2019, after 10 straight losses, and they had not won in volleyball either during that time. Both the boys and girls teams had plenty to cheer on the way home after ending long losing streaks against their rival.
“Being able to beat them, it really helped us with our energy, picked us up as a team,” Suazo said. “We’ve been working all together to become closer. With all the summer (games) we played, it brought us together to finally beat Escalante.”
They had this game circled since before the season, with a win against the preseason district favorite a primary goal.
“It was important for our girls, not as much record-wise, just mentally,” Boies said. “We needed to break this streak that Escalante had on us. We needed to get over that hump.”
Brycelyn Martinez, Escalante’s leading scorer, rebounder, and assister was limited with a knee injury (she missed the prior game). She came off the bench three minutes into the game and was on and off through the game. Perhaps partly due to the injury, she missed her first five free-throw attempts, and finished 3-for-8 (37 percent) after entering the game with a 72-percent rate.
The Lady Trojans raced out early in the game, and the score was 13-3 before Escalante knew what hit them. Mesa Vista forced turnovers and scored in transition, perfectly executing their gameplan. At halftime, they led by 15 points, 37-22 after a huge offensive performance. Boies said that he told the team at halftime that he expected Escalante to make a run in the second half, and they needed to answer.
But Escalante looked almost like a different team in the second half, playing much improved than they had in previous weeks (Escalante coach Bryan Gonzales said they made adjustments, but refused to tell me what they were). Cipriana Garcia drained a 3-pointer to start the half, and they quickly closed the gap to seven points before Tana Lopez hit a 3-pointer, her fourth of the game.
From there, the Trojans were able to keep Escalante at bay, but they were thankful for that early lead and missed free throws giving extra cushion, plus Escalante at just 2-for-17 on 3-point attempts.
“We never expect to lose,” Gonzales said. “Just keep making adjustments and everything. There’s a lot from week to week and game to game that we deal with.”
Boies agreed that the Lobos looked much better as a team than they did when Mesa Vista watched them at the Northern Rio Grande tournament.
Lopez scored 21 points to lead Mesa Vista, including 4-for-6 3-point shooting, while Amarissa Quintana had 15 and nine rebounds .Bella Boies, while battling a foot injury, scored 14 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the field, and added seven assists to her state-leading total. Emma Maestas scored 20 points to lead Escalante, including 15 in the first half for an effort that kept the Lobos in the game.
Mesa Vista next hosts Pecos (11-6) on Tuesday in a non-district contest, then plays at home against Questa (7-10, 1-1) on Thursday. Escalante will look to gain momentum against Peñasco (9-8, 2-0) after losing to the Panthers at the NRG tournament.
“The rivalry’s alive and well,” Jesse Boies said.