Lady Warriors Keep Rolling

By Nicky Romero
For the Mountain Mail

The No. 5 Socorro Lady Warriors clinched the 3-3A season district championship to im-prove to 20-5 overall and 5-0 in district play.
The Lady Warriors ran their win streak to eight games and moved two games ahead of Hot Springs with one game remaining.
By placing first in district, Socorro will receive a bye to the championship game of the district tournament on Feb. 27 at home.
Socorro easily defeated district opponent Cobre Indians 81-16 on Friday, Feb. 12 at home. Cobre's record fell to 3-21 overall and 0-4 in district.
The story of this game was Socorro's senior Roxanne Silva who again ruled the court. Almost scoring at will, Silva scored a state high of 57 points. She not only broke her school record, which she set three days ago, but also broke the New Mexico state individual scoring record of 53 points. The previous record was held by Deming's Melanie Maynes, which she held since February 3, 1998.

Silva was proud to talk about her performance, “I was happy with the school record. My mom, friends, my teammates kept telling me to push it. They told me, Rox just get it, you can do it. I pushed myself and I did it. I'm happy.”
Silva (averaging 30 points a game) scored thanks to many assists from her teammates. She scored on a variety of layups, putbacks, short jumpers, and three 3-point shots.
Jaden Jones added 14 points.
Coach Joseph Garcia talked about his star player “Roxanne had a heck of a week, she broke two big records in one week. She wanted that state record and she got it. Now we can focus on other things the rest of the year.”
Socorro led this game from start to finish. The Lady Warriors led 46-8 at halftime, ensuring the running clock for the second half.
“Senior Night” was played against the Hot Springs Lady Tigers on Tuesday, February 16. Seniors Tristen Peralta, Brittany McDaniel, and Silva were honored this night. They ended their last home season game with a 63-40 win against the Lady Tigers (13-11, 3-2).
“This was a big win for us”, Garcia said. “ It give us 20 wins now for the eighth time. ”
It wasn't as easy as the score looked, especially in the 1st half. Socorro was leading 5-2, when Silva received her second foul with five minutes left in the 1st quarter. Coach Garcia quickly sat her down and she did not return until the second half.
Jaden Jones, Brittany McDaniel, Kianna Gonzales, Samantha Sedillo, and Tristen Peralta than took charge, especially defensively. Socorro would have had the lead at the end of the 1st quarter, but Hot Springs hit a three-pointer for a 14-13 lead.
It was all about defense in the 2nd quarter. Socorro's full-court press defense held Hot Springs to only three points. Jones, McDaniel, Gonzales, and Peralta combined for all 11 points scored in this quarter to take a 24-17 lead into halftime.
Garcia said, “It showed these other girls that they can play too. The last couple of games it's been Roxanne. Now we were able to close a whole half without her and still go in with a seven point lead.”
In the third quarter, Silva returned to play and scored 15 points to help her team increase their lead to 49-20 at the end of the quarter. Silva finished with 25 points.

Pictured: Seniors Roxanne Silva, Tristen Peralta and Brittany McDaniel and their families are honored at Senior Night before the Lady Warriors’ game against Hot Springs on Feb. 16.
Photo by John Severance.

Lady Warriors Keep Rolling