At the Northern Rio Grande Tournament, it was the Mesa Vista girls team that went all the way. While the boys had to settle for fifth.
A week later, both teams were celebrating together.
Both the Trojan boys and girls teams took first place at the Santa Fe Indian School tournament over the weekend.
But neither team was going to take more than a small celebration.
“We’re ready for the big one,” said Mesa Vista girls coach Jesse Boies, referring to the state tournament.
Trojans Take a Step Forward
Mesta Vista boys coach Thomas Vigil missed the first five minutes of the team’s final two games while he was taking classes nearby.
Assistant coach Roy Nevarez stepped in, and held everything together.
“It was an opportunity for my kids to unite,” Vigil said. “Coach Nevarez did an amazing job in my absence. He had the kids prepared, he had the kids believing, he had the kids playing hard.”
The Trojans (8-4) won first place in the tournament, defeating Santa Fe Indian (11-3) 55-48 in the final. After a 2-4 start, Mesa Vista is rolling, with six straight wins.
Mesa Vista had to fight through three hard games against bigger schools. In the first round, against Sandia Prep (3-10), the Trojans grinded out a 58-50 victory. And in the semifinal, they defeated Santa Fe Prep (7-6) 63-59, their second win against them in a week.
“Just a building block, had a little bit of luck on our side,” he said.
Vigil said that the team has learned how to play close games, after losing a few earlier in the season. Despite some small lapses, he said the team played with effort and energy, and shot the ball well. Their defense was strong, and they had the perseverance to keep leads in tough games.
Jordan Gallegos led the team with 20 points in the championship game.
Mesa Vista lost a big core of players that had led the team for several years. But thus far, they have not lost a step, despite a starting lineup including a freshman and two sophomores. Vigil said they are building a culture, believing in each other.
Mesa Vista faces Pecos on Tuesday evening. Next week, they begin district play, which looks to be a battle between top teams with plenty of more close games ahead.
“One dogfight after another,” Vigil said is his expectation. “No team is going to run the table, and that’s not an insult to anyone, that’s a compliment to all the team’s in our district”
Lady Trojans Keep on Winning
Mesa Vista (13-2) girls basketball made it 12 wins in a row, and a third straight weekend bringing home a first-place trophy.
The Lady Trojans faced tough competition, and came out ahead, defeating Santa Fe Indian (10-5) — the defending state runners-up in 3A (Mesa Vista is in 2A) — in the final, 42-40.
That game was a defensive battle in the final minutes.
Tana Lopez hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 40. Then Brittni Suazo gave Mesa Vista the lead just inside of two minutes, and neither team scored after that. The Lady Braves had the ball with six seconds left, but missed a shot at the buzzer.
“It was a dogfight all the way to the final shot at the buzzer,” Boies said. “A lot of grit from our girls.”
Santa Fe Indian face-guarded point guard Bella Boies, forcing other players to step up. Early on, Mesa Vista struggled against the Lady Braves’ size, allowing offensive rebounds, but they settled in and learned to compete under the glass.
“They have it in their heads right now that you got to let the dog out,” Jesse Boies said.
Mesa Vista is the presumptive favorite heading into district. But they know after a disappointing finish to last year that this is just the beginning. They are happy about their championship wins, but they know it’s not enough yet, and they will be seeing everyone’s tough competition.
“Everybody wants a piece of Mesa Vista right now,” Jesse Boies said.
McCurdy Girls Battle through Adversity
The Bobcats (4-6) fought through the weekend tournament without two of their top players in Esperanza Sandoval and Amy Anaya, no longer with the team.
“It’s hard,” said center Mariana Arambula. “But I think we’re getting the hang of it. It’s getting better and better every day. We’re just adjusting to everything.”
But through 10 games, the Bobcats have already won four of them, coming off a year of just one victory.
Their success came off the heels of a volleyball season where, with a largely similar group, they showed big improvement to 13-7 and third place in the district, after going 2-16 the year before.
“Over the last few years, the team hasn’t been able to experience a lot of (wins),” said team coach Joseph Brooks. “They’re starting to enjoy them a little bit more, and understand that we have to work a lot harder in practice to get to where we want to get to.”
McCurdy lost big twice on the first and third day, falling 62-18 to Newcomb (8-6) and 46-6 to Bernalillo (7-8). In between, they scored a 38-19 victory over Raton (0-14) to take sixth place at the tournament.
McCurdy fell behind early in that game against the Tigers, scoring a 3-pointer early then giving up seven straight points. At halftime, they were tied at 14.
But coming out of the half, the Lady Bobcats took over. They scored 10 straight points, and won the third quarter 17-2, to the point where they could take their foot off the gas late, cruising to a 19-point win.
“Just running the game how we play, at our own pace,” said Arambula. “Smart plays, looking at open people. Just watch our shooters, and handle the ball how we usually handle it.”
Young guards Kaylee Martinez and Isabella Archuleta led the team with 23 combined points, 10 from Archuleta and 13 from Martinez.
McCurdy next plays at East Mountain (3-7) on Saturday.
McCurdy’s boys team (7-7) finished sixth as well. They lost a close first game to Moriarty (4-8) 59-53, with Lucas Martinez scoring 21 points. In the first consolation round, they defeated Laguna-Acoma (1-14) 63-45 with a big shooting effort, hitting eight first-half 3-pointers. And in the consolation final, they fell 60-58 to Sandia Prep.