For The Mountain Mail
SOCORRO -- The Hatch Valley Lady Bears (10-15, 4-3) defeated the Socorro Lady Warriors 44-40 at the packed Socorro gym on Saturday, Feb. 27 to win the 3-3A district tournament. This was Hatch Valley's second victory over Socorro in the last two weeks.
“Hatch got hot at the right time,” Socorro coach Joseph Garcia said.
Socorro's record dropped to 20-7 overall and 5-2 in district play. Despite the loss, the Lady Warriors received a better seeding in this week's state basketball tournament than rivals Hatch Valley and Hot Springs.
Socorro received a No. 8 seed and will host No. 9 St. Michael's High School (14-13, 5-6) in the first round of the state tournament on Friday, March 5 at 7 p.m.
During the regular season, Socorro beat St. Michael's 56-43.
If Socorro wins, they likely will play top seed Portales at “The Pit” in Albuquerque, on Tuesday, March 9th at 8 a.m.
Socorro got off to an early 4-0 lead when senior Roxanne Silva went down with an injury with only three minutes gone in the game. She returned with two minutes left in the 1st quarter and her team tied 4-4. Jaden Jones and Brittney McDaniel were the only players to score. But Socorro trailed 6-4 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Hatch Valley continued to stymie Socorro's offense by playing a box-in-one defense against Silva. Socorro regained the lead late in the quarter 16-14 thanks to a three-point shot by Kianna Gonzales. Socorro outscored Hatch Valley 12-11 in the second quarter but trailed 17-16 at the half. Silva was held to only 5 points in the first half. Jones had 6 of her 8 total points this half.
McDaniel opened up the third quarter with a two-point shot giving Socorro their only lead this quarter. Hatch Valley's Rebecca Hays than took over and scored 9 of her team's 16 points this quarter. Socorro than fell behind 33-23 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Silva tried to help her team come from behind by hitting two shots and two free throws to narrow the margin to four points. McDaniel hit a two and a free throw. She missed the second free throw, but Silva was there to put it back in and give Socorro a 34-33 lead with six minutes left in the game.
“We had a real good run to start the fourth quarter,” Garcia said. “I thought a real key was when Brittney got her fifth foul. That was big when she fouled out.
Hatch Valley tied it with a free throw. Silva was then fouled and made two free throws for Socorro's last lead of the game. Hatch Valley's Leticia Varela banked in a three-point shot to regain their lead 37-36. Socorro tied the game twice, the last time coming with 1:40 left and a 40-40 tie. Crucial turnovers than proved too much for Socorro to overcome. Hatch Valley's last two winning baskets were on a putback and a layup with 30 seconds remaining.
“Had our chances,” Garcia said. “We had three key turnovers at the end of the game and a key missed assignment at the back of the press at the end of the game.
“Defensively, we played better than last week holding them to 44 points instead of 65.
“Where our success has been this year has been when Jaden, Brittany, and Kianna have contributed, along with Roxanne. I thought we would shoot better in our gym today. We had open shots, we just didn't hit out shots today.”
Silva finished with 22 points.
Hatch Valley had three players in double-figures--- Shelbey Carson (13 points), Rebecca Hays (11 points), and Leticia Varela (10 points). Coach Sara Davis was voted the district's “Coach of the Year”.
Socorro's starting lineup were all voted into the “All-District Team”-- McDaniel, Gonzales, Tristen Peralta, Jones, and Silva.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment