Outdone by Clayton, Pecos still had good year

RIO RANCHO — It’s never easy reaching the end of the road, particularly in a place that cherishes its high school basketball like Pecos.

But the end is exactly what the Lady Panthers met on Tuesday morning at the Santa Ana Star Center. Done in by subpar work on the glass, they were eliminated from the Class AAA state tournament’s quarterfinals with a 49-40 loss to Clayton.

The Yellowjackets (22-7) enjoyed a 39-30 rebounding advantage, grabbing 21 of those boards at the offensive end. They converted many of them into second-chance points.

They erased an early 7-0 deficit by finishing the first half on a 27-10 run. The double-digit halftime lead grew to as many as 17 before a furious rally got Pecos within one possession early in the fourth quarter.

Mitzi Vital had a game-high 15 points for Clayton, which moves on to face top seeded Tularosa in the semifinals.

A year after winning just eight games, Pecos finished 23-5.

When asked about the team’s remarkable 15-game turnaround, outgoing senior Ida Valencia responded by simply pointing to her left. Seated two feet away was the target of that extended index finger: Lady Panthers head coach Ron Drake.

“It was just a whole different vibe this year, it was just so uplifted,” Valencia said. “He’s crazy as hell and we’re crazy as hell, and we just totally meshed together this year.”

Leaving Pojoaque Valley for Pecos last offseason, Drake said he sees enormous potential in his program. Although talented seniors like Valencia and KeeAnna Trujillo will not be back, he said it’s their influence that will make things more interesting moving forward.

“We had a very successful season because of them,” Drake said. “They bought into what I’m trying to teach them and that’s three quarters of the battle right there.”

Montana Baker and Sterling Walker each had seven rebounds while combining for 23 points for Clayton, which used a late surge in the fourth quarter to hold on. Walker also had seven assists.

Her team’s leading scorer all year, Valencia was held six points below her average with 12 points. She connected on just 5 of 18 shots, going 2-for-12 from 3-point range without making a single attempt to the free throw line.

Trujillo added 11 points for Pecos. Adelisha Ortiz had six

points and half a dozen rebounds.

Clayton head coach Ross Perschbacher said he tried to use the Star Center’s spacious backdrops as an extra defender against Valencia. Taking aim at a rim with dozens of feet of open space behind it is something most players aren’t used to, he said.

“In all of our gyms it’s wall basket right there,” he said. “In here, you see nothing behind the basket, so the depth perception’s horrible for our little schools to come up here and play because we don’t play in anything like this.”

Both Drake and Valencia refuted that, saying it wasn’t a factor. To them, it just a bad shooting day for one of the state’s top players.

But, Drake added, just reaching this point is a good thing for a program that has struggled to find a winning touch of late. He expects the momentum from this season will spur more interest in his program and set the tone for a stronger support system throughout the entire school district.

That means more players, more fan interest, more excitement.

“These girls reminded me of the girls I had at Española. They love their basketball. I thought Pecos and Española, they’re two of my favorite schools because of the way they love their basketball.”