Stronger Lady Jaguars best Bernalillo

The Capital girls basketball team is finding its balance — and just in time for District 5-5A play.

The Lady Jaguars toughened up their defense in the second half of a nondistrict game Wednesday night at Bernalillo, while their offense broke the 50-point barrier for the first time this season to down the Lady Spartans 52-46 in Joseph Kloeppel Gymnasium.

Darren Casados, Capital’s head coach, said the players are learning how to work together within the offense, which hadn’t been happening earlier in the year.

“I just think that they are starting to to believe in the offense and in each other,” Casadosa said. “We’re getting better shots out of the offense instead of trying to do so much individually.”

Miranda Cortez exploded in the second half, scoring all of her team-high 13 points as Capital erased a 28-26 halftime deficit. Meanwhile, the Lady Jaguars (6-8) did a better job defending the other Bernalillo players outside of Juliana Aragon, who had 16 points to lead the Lady Spartans (9-8).

“The first half, they had one girl [Gabby Valencia] who hit some big [3-pointers],” Casados said. “We told the girls we are going to have to guard the other four girls and not just their scorer.”

Capital also was strong at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, hitting 5 of 7 to seal the win. Alyssa Martinez had 10 points, while Ethena Silva scored 13 for the Lady Jaguars, which ends the nondistrict schedule with a game Friday at Española Valley.