Robertson girls best rival West Las Vegas
ALBUQUERQUE — Robertson’s dream season began, fittingly enough, with a dream.
Following his team’s 57-52 win over crosstown rival West Las Vegas in Tuesday night’s Class 4A state quarterfinals in The Pit, Robertson girls basketball coach Leroy Barela said he had a vivid night’s sleep last October in which his team was wearing its red uniforms in a game against Shiprock in The Pit.
Tuesday’s win set up a state semifinal showdown Thursday morning against Shiprock in WisePies Arena and, yes, the Lady Cardinals will be wearing their red uniforms. Shiprock moved on Tuesday with a rout of Navajo Prep while the other semifinal will pair top-seeded Hope Christian against No. 4 Portales.
Robertson (22-6) got 22 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore shooting guard Alianza Darley and 10 points from junior center Angelica Montoya, offsetting the combined 30 points West Las
Vegas got from guards Annalysse Lucero and Jenika Padilla.
The Lady Cardinals trailed for only 11 seconds in the first half as West Las Vegas went 12 straight possessions without a point in the opening quarter. It helped Robertson open a 14-point lead and carry a 31-23 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
“We’ve done that two other games against them this year, where we’re down 10 or 14 points right away and then have to fight back,” said Lady Dons head coach Majic Medina. “They always do that against us, get big leads.”
West Las Vegas turned to the full court press to open the third quarter, scoring seven straight points and then taking just its second lead of the game moments later when Lucero converted a pair of free throws to put the Lady Dons in front 34-32 midway through the third quarter.
Robertson again seized control in the fourth quarter, opening a 47-40 lead with six minutes left when Montoya — who injured the big toe on her right foot in the first half and was clearly hobbled the rest the way — scored on a low-post bucket on an assist from Darley.
Barela said Montoya’s injury will be reassessed Wednesday, but said the decision to get back into Tuesday’s game was ultimately Montoya’s call.
“If it were you toe; a little bit of pain,” he said. “But when you got a toe that big, it’s a lot of pain.”
Robertson’s opportunity to put the Lady Dons away came just moments later when Tessa Ortiz had a 3-point try that would have opened a double-digit lead, but her miss sparked a 10-0 West Las Vegas run to put West Las Vegas back in front.
From there it was a sprint to the finish; Robertson battling foul trouble and the injury to Montoya, West Las Vegas fighting its own poor shooting and inability to hold onto the ball.
The Lady Dons shot just 23 percent for the game (13 of 56) and had 21 turnovers. They had four miscues in the final three minutes of the game, each of them crippling to their comeback bid.
“Obviously this is a big game, us and Robertson in The Pit,” said West Las Vegas guard Alisson Hill. “I wanted it my whole life and to be here, it’s special.
We just didn’t get the win.”
West Las Vegas didn’t make a single shot in the final four-plus minutes of the game. Its only points came on six free throws from Lucero. Robertson closed the game on a 10-2 run, taking the lead for good on a pair of free throws by eighth-grader Maria Barela with 2:11 remaining.
Darley talked about the composure her team needed after blowing a 14-point lead and then having to rally twice in the second half with its best post player limping up and down the floor.
“I knew if we’d just calm down we’d be able to just hold the ball and keep our cool,” she said.
The next step, Barela said, is taking a little time to get acclimated to what is uncharted territory for a program he said is a full year ahead of schedule. Devoid of a single senior in the starting lineup, the Lady Cardinals are literally learning just how good they are every step they take deeper into this tournament.
The fact that the entire team is wildly superstitious merely adds to the carnival atmosphere surrounding the Robertson program. Some examples include the coaching staff wearing black shirts with black pants for all big games, like Barela wearing red and black striped socks, like the players singing two songs in the locker room just before tipoff, like the elaborate pregame handshakes for every player on the team.
Then there’s the head coach’s silent prayer in which he makes the sign of the cross and points straight upward in memory of his late parents. Part of it is a tribute to his father, a man who sat in the 22nd row for every home game at West Las Vegas when Barela was a varsity assistant with the Dons. The coach joked that his father won around 100 state championships while fan-coaching from those bleacher seats.
“He was by biggest critic and my biggest supporter,” Barela said. “I know he’s with me, I know he’s watching me and so it’s just a little reference to him, to say, ‘Hey, we’re still doing this, we’re still enjoying it.’ Sometimes you still kind of miss it even at 43.”