Española turns on jets for win
Lady Sundevils anticipating high seed Sunday for next weekend’s state tournament
Auditions are over. Now comes the fun part. Casting calls for the respective high school basketball state tournaments take place Sunday night with the annual seeding and selection process, an hourslong ordeal that is streamed live across the internet as teams around the state await word on when (and whom) they’ll be playing.
For one team, the suspense really isn’t there.
The regular season and district tournament champion out of 2-5A, Española Valley’s girls basketball team is pretty much assured of the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the Class 5A bracket. The Lady Sundevils virtually cemented that likelihood Saturday night with a 46-31 victory over visiting Albuquerque Academy in the district tournament title game inside Medina Gym.
Española (19-6) has been ranked near the top of 5A all season behind powers like Roswell and Los Lunas. Saturday’s win will go a long way in landing a spot at either 2 or 3 in the state tournament, which starts next weekend.
“That’s what we’re thinking, but I guess it doesn’t really matter,” Lady Sundevils senior forward Alexis Lovato said. “We’re just happy to still be playing, you know? All we were focused on was winning this game and making sure that team didn’t come in here and beat us on our floor.”
For a while it seemed that’s what was in store. Academy used a 6-0 run midway through a lethargic second quarter to take a 17-11 lead and the Chargers were very much within striking distance through the end of the third quarter.
Holding a 26-22 lead entering the fourth, Española turned on the jets and nearly doubled their point production over the course of the final eight minutes.
As intense as she is during games as she prowls the sidelines in front of the team bench, Lady Sundevils head coach Cindy Roybal was downright playful after watching her team accept the district championship trophy for the third straight year and then spend several minutes posing for photos and mingling with fans.
“Alright you lucky dogs, you get [Sunday] off for doing such a good job,” she said, herding her players into the locker room with a big smile on her face.
That was a far cry from the Roybal who watched her team struggle against an Academy team that split the
regular season series. Preferring to grind games out by controlling the tempo and playing tough defense, the Chargers held Española to 13 combined points in the second and third quarters — a trait that has been their modus operandi all year.
Saturday was the 14th consecutive game that an Academy opponent failed to score at least 50 points.
It wasn’t until Lovato and Lady Sundevils point guard Leah DeAguero took over that things changed. The pair scored 14 of their team’s final 18 points to put the game away.
A senior who has overcome a major knee injury in the past, Lovato said the team’s singular focus now is the game next week during the opening round of the state tournament. Not even the bulky knee brace she wears as a precaution is a distraction anymore.
“I don’t even feel the brace anymore, but I know it’s there,” she said. “It’s more a precautionary thing. I don’t want anything to happen, especially now. “We’re getting to the end of it.” Lovato finished with a team-high 14 points while DeAguero and Kaylee Chavez each had 11. Annalynn Martinez chipped in with half a dozen.
Sophie Long had 16 for Academy (19-7), which is expected to land anywhere between No. 5 and No. 7 when the seeds are announced.
Lovato said the biggest challenge most teams face now is rust. Most district champions sat idle for a whole week before playing in their respective tournament championship games. Add another week on there between this weekend and the start of the state tournament Friday and Saturday, and it’s easy to see how the fire can fade a little.
“Yeah, sitting around for all that time — it makes you rusty,” Lovato said. “It’s kind of scary. You sit out that long and then play the way we did like that for most of the game. It would have been bad losing a game like this.”
Thankfully for the Lady Sundevils, their audition was a successful one.
Now it’s time to sit around and wait for the casting call.