St. Michael’s throttles Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical Prep, 55-15
Lady Horsemen work on passing into frontcourt without dribbling
It was midway through the fourth quarter, and the St. Michael’s Lady Horsemen were in complete control. Yet, there was still time to learn and grow, so the bench was alive with chatter — well, it was more of a plea. Sydney Halford consistently posted herself up on her defender to take the entry pass, but the pass never came.
Even though the possession was immaterial in a 55-15 win for host St. Michael’s over Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical Prep to complete opening-day action of the Lady Horsemen Christmas Tournament on Wednesday, that Halford made herself available in the low post was a good sign.
“Sydney was just working really hard to get open in the block,” Lady Horsemen head coach Martin Esquibel said. “She sealed her man a couple of times and was open. Unfortunately, the guards just didn’t see her to make that entry pass. But she was working hard and that’s what we want her to do.” At least there were passes. That quality was not a priority for St. Michael’s (5-6), and it seemed that the ball often found its way downcourt via the dribble,
and Esquibel had enough of that style.
So, he instituted a “one dribble” rule, meaning any Lady Horseman with the ball had one dribble before passing.
“The past few practices, coach said we’ve been dribbling too much,” St. Michael’s wing Carisa Padilla said. “So, we’re not allowed to dribble when we’re scrimmaging.”
Against the Lady Coyotes, St. Michael’s worked on passing the ball into the frontcourt without the effort of dribbling. Once there, the Lady Horsemen passed and passed to find the opening they needed.
It worked to the tune of a 26-for-58 effort from the field. While the goal was to get a shot as close to the basket as possible, it also opened up plenty of open looks for jumpers that St. Michael’s mostly hit. Lady Horsemen forward Jodie Gormley hit a 16-foot jumper 59 seconds into the game and Joelyn Fernandez knocked down a 17-footer with 2:30 left in the first quarter for a 13-1 Lady Horsemen lead.
When some of the little-used reserves got a chance to play, the rest of the team and the coaching staff constantly implored them to shoot when the opening was there.
“We talked about that at halftime and even during a couple of the timeouts,” Esquibel said. “‘If you have an open shot, ladies, don’t hesitate to take it,’ especially for the younger girls who went in. This playing at the varsity level is a little new to them. They’re a little timid, they’re a little unsure. They have to understand that those opportunities don’t always come to be that open and take that shot.”
And by shooting — and making, more important — it forces defense to pay respect to them and keep opponents from focusing solely on Padilla, who had a team-high 16 points against Cottonwood Classical (1-5). Ten of the 11 Lady Horsemen who played scored. They received the usual contributions from Gormley (seven points) and Cia Alvarez (six), but there were four points from freshman Stella Valencia and two from sophomore Amelia Esquibel.
Both of them started earning playing time on the varsity over the last two weeks, as coach Esquibel tried to find ways to expand his rotation, which pretty much tapped out at seven players.
The importance of their development, as well as that of the other inexperienced players, will help determine if this recent spate of winning (4-1 since a 1-5 start) continues.
“I think, especially in practice, we all need to work as hard as we can,” Gormley said. “We got to hustle in practice so that it translates into games.”
St. Michael’s will find a stiffer challenge against Cobre, which lost 66-44 to Pojoaque Valley in its opening-day game but sits at 7-4 entering Thursday’s contest.
“It’s going to be a whole different ball game [Thursday],” Esquibel said.
This time, the Lady Horsemen might need to react to those open looks more quickly then they did against Cottonwood Classical.
In other games:
POJOAQUE VALLEY 66, COBRE 44
The Elkettes were impressive in the first and third quarters, which was all they needed to pull out the win against the Lady Indians. Adrianna Quintana scored six of her 10 points in the opening quarter as Pojoaque (10-1) took an 18-7 lead, while the duo of Dallas Archibald and Alicia Sanchez combined for nine of the Elkettes’ 18 points in the third to fashion a 50-30 lead entering the final quarter.
Michaela Martinez led the Elkettes with 12 points, while Ashten Martinez added 11. Quintana and Shania Thronas each had 10.
Skkyla Guck led Cobre with 23 points.
ESPAÑOLA VALLEY 73, ABQ. SANDIA PREP 38
The Lady Sundevils exploded for 47 points in the second and third quarters combined to turn a 9-all tie into a 56-33 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Ten of the 11 players scored for Española, led by Kaylinn Martinez’s 17 points. Miranda Salazar added 11 and Kaylee Chavez nine.
Samantha Jeffries led Sandia Prep (1-6) with 22 points.
Española (5-5) plays Pojoaque Valley at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, while the Lady Sundevils take on Cottonwood Classical at 1 p.m.
ESPAÑOLA 71, PIEDRA VISTA 62
Class 5A’s top-ranked boys basketball team kept right on rolling Wednesday.
The Española Valley Sundevils outscored Piedra Vista 19-6 in the third quarter to erase a 30-28 halftime deficit to win 71-62 in the opening round of the Jalene Berger Holiday Hoops Classic in Rio Rancho. Española, which earned its ranking via the New Mexico Overtime SportsCenter coaches poll on Tuesday, plays Las Cruces Oñate in a semifinal at 5 p.m. Thursday.
After the Panthers used an 18-14 second quarter to take the lead, the Sundevils turned up the defense.
“We are starting to take great pride in our defensive schemes, which is allowing us the ability to make separation,” Española head coach James Branch said.
The Sundevils (10-0) pushed the lead to as much as 63-48 before the Panthers (7-4) cut into the margin. J.P. Sena had 17 points to lead the Sundevils, Isaiah Vigil added 15, Ryan Trujillo chipped in with 13 and Martin Gracia finished the double-digit scoring ladder with 12. Jarrett Graham led Piedra Vista with 18 points, and Christian Chavez added 11.