C
ongratulations to the Peñasco Lady Panthers. The 2024 Class 2A Girls Basketball State Champions. It’s their first ever and well earned.
The Panthers are fun to watch. They are methodical and smart, especially on defense. It’s a bit of a departure from the normal frenetic Northern New Mexico style of high-tempo full-court press and nonstop shooting.
Analise MacAuley, who will continue playing basketball in Española, is an amazing team leader. Rochelle Lopez, just a sophomore, is truly special. She will continue to rack up accolades in track season. Last summer, I had the privilege to profile her statewide leadership efforts.
But it’s the entire team that really makes the team tick, and how well they work together. Everyone has a role. Last week they all played their roles to perfection. Coach Mandy Montoya gets the most out of all her players, who in turn give her their all everyday.
“We’re all MVPs,” Alyssa Atencio said in the press conference alongside the blue trophy.
It’s a bit paradoxical a statement. But it quickly caught on. Signs in the celebration said, “You are all MVPs!”
Many around the program have talked about a feeling among the current group that they were special watching them grow up. Since their youth, they have all played together.
They fought this year through everyone on the team getting sick, which led to a week of canceled practices and postponed games. Montoya has called that the blessing in disguise, letting everyone heal.
On Sunday, the towns of Dixon and Peñasco finally got to celebrate. (As well as Picuris Pueblo, Chamisal, Ojo Sarco, etc.)
In the Jicarita Gymnasium, you can find banners of multiple girls state runner-up teams. Now, they will have a championship banner, signed by everyone on the team. They had previously been 0 for 4. It had been over 40 years since the boys basketball team won state in 1981.
Covering Peñasco is always a tricky issue for the Rio Grande SUN. The school is in Taos County. But much of their student body comes from Dixon or other places in Rio Arriba. And judging by the students from other schools in attendance, many wearing Peñasco shirts, the school is just as much a part of the northern community as Mesa Vista or Escalante.
I watched the team set up for their parade outside of Dixon. Everyone was joyous as they tied balloons to their cars and wrote players’ numbers and names on the windshield. Even though nobody really seemed to know the plan for the day.
Then, from Dixon, I watched them go by (quite quickly) past the post office. After which I found myself in the middle of the motorcade, caught up in the celebrations, waving at people set up along the streets with their own signs and balloons on the way to the gymnasium.
Peñasco’s signature call is a single, medium-length, high-pitched, “Wooo!” One sign said “Fear the Wooo!” It was the first thing Montoya said when she grabbed the microphone. At one point in the celebration, senior Cheyenne Martinez — a fearless 4-foot-11-inch leader and sixth woman — told teammates to “watch this.” She gave the cheer, and laughed as it echoed around the gymnasium.