Class 3A: Pecos rally comes too late to overcome Texico.

RIO RANCHO — To be continued next year. As Cassie Muller sat in the postgame interview room after the eighth-seeded Pecos Lady Panthers saw their season come to an end against top-seeded Texico on Tuesday afternoon, the Pecos junior wing made a promise for the 2018-19 season.

“I think it’s going to be a totally different story next year,” Muller said.

While the Lady Wolverines put an end to the Lady Panthers’ season with a 54-34 win in the Class 3A quarterfinals in the Santa Ana Star Center, this was merely the first chapter of what should be an intense District 7-2A rivalry. That won’t happen until next January, however, but the Lady Panthers needed 19 minutes before matching the intensity of a program that has reached the state semifinals for the last 13 Marches.

By that point, Texico (24-4) built a 35-11 lead at the 5:09 mark of the third thanks to an efficient offense that hit 15 of its first 29 shots and a defense that put a lid on the Pecos rim to the tune of a 3-for-28 start for the Lady Panthers. It didn’t help that a team which relies on a sophomore (Desiree Sena) and two freshmen (Alexis Gonzales and Trinity Herrera) struggled with the jitters of their first Santa Ana experience.

“We were working on them the whole time; our focus was on Texico,” Muller said. “When came out, I don’t know. Maybe some of us were more nervous than others.”

Juxtapose that with a program filled with upperclassmen and state-tournament experience that never seemed out of its element from the opening tip. It didn’t matter if it was the post play of senior Maryelle Dickerman (11 first-half points), Mackenzie Haakma (10 points, seven rebounds) and Alexus Hill (five points, four rebounds in the second half ) or the smooth consistency of junior guard Baylee Sours (15 points, nine rebounds, three steals), the Lady Wolverines had an answer for any Pecos reply.

“They are primarily a zone defensive team, but they are very quick,” Texico head coach Richard Luscombe said. “So they are going to cover the perimeter pretty well. We thought we would have some opportunities to get the ball inside. When we moved the ball around the outside, it opened things up inside.”

The Lady Panthers (24-5) did offer a challenge, although it wasn’t truly pronounced until the fourth quarter. They fashioned a glacial 16-6 run that cut the margin to 41-27 on Faith Flores’ steal and layup with 4:29 left in the game. Pecos forced nine turnovers during the run, while hitting 5 of 8 free throws in that 8:40 stretch. What it struggled to do, though, was make shots.

The Lady Panthers still were just 7 for 21 to finish the game — which was 22 percent better than their 11-percent clip to start the game.

Muller missed 13 of her 15 shots on the day, and Brittney Martinez went just 2-for-10. Gonzales had just one point. Pecos also drew a doughnut from the perimeter — missing all 12 3-pointers.

“Our shots weren’t falling like they usually do,” Pecos head coach Ron Drake said. “We’re a high-scoring team. We had the shots. Looking at the [stat sheet], we had, like, 60 shots. If half of them went in … We just didn’t shoot well.”

Now, the Lady Panthers have nine months to turn those misses into makes.