Española Valley High School girls basketball head coach Johnny Abeyta had never seen anything like it.
His assistant coach, Kelvin Rodrigues, hadn’t seen anything like it, either.
Junior Kaylinn Martinez, one of the most experienced players on the team, had never played in a game like it.
“I actually looked up at the score, and I thought it was like 5-6 or 5-7,” she said. “But no, it was 0-0. I was like, ‘What the heck is going on with us?’”
At the end of the first quarter of the Lady Sundevils’ game against Belen High School, Jan. 11, at Española, the scoreboard and pace of play resembled the likeness of a soccer game. It took seven-and-a-half minutes of play for a basket to be scored.
Belen’s Janae Ornelas broke the ice, scoring off a layup with 30 seconds left in the first quarter. Her lone basket settled the score at the end of the first quarter, 2-0.
Eventually, the pace of play picked up and the teams were able to finish with a relatively normal score.
The Lady Eagles finished the day with an away win, defeating the Lady Sundevils, 38-32.
Even after the first quarter was off the minds of the players, a certain oddity remained in the game.
Neither team could find a way to penetrate the other team’s defense. Inside looks were few and far between.
Both sides resorted to shooting from the three-point line. Slightly less than 50 percent of Belen’s points came from that line.
They made six three-pointers over the course of the game.
All but five of Española’s total points came from three-pointers, as they made nine from the perimeter. Martinez made four threes and Kaylee Chavez made three. Anita DeAguero and Miranda Salazar each had one.
At the beginning of the third quarter, the Lady Eagles built a sizeable lead, at one point doubling the score of the Lady Sundevils, at 24-12.
A spate of three-pointers, led by Kaylinn Martinez and Chavez kept the game close.
To start the fourth quarter, Chavez drained back-to-back three-pointers, followed by a layup by Salazar, which tied the game at 26 points.
However, Belen would go on to pull away from Española, as the Lady Sundevils missed some crucial shots in the final stretch of the game.
“The great thing about it is, they’re never giving up,” Abeyta said. “As long as they never give up, it is going to help us grow. Because they’re so young … But, it will be our turn pretty soon.”
Each team had a noticeably difficult time getting to the basket — the hallmark of a tightly guarded post defense.
The Lady Sundevils switched between a 1-3-1 zone and a 2-3 zone with some man-to-man defense interspersed.
This game was the fourth loss in five games for the Lady Sundevils, and their record dropped to 6-9, overall.
This was their last game before district play began, Tuesday, against Albuquerque Academy.
Capital High School is the sole member of Española’s district that has a better record than the Lady Sundevils. They sit at 8-9.