Pojoaque avoids Lovington upset
Elkettes advance to Tuesday quarterfinals
JACONA — Seledon Martinez has filled out enough NCAA Tournament brackets to know the upset special usually resides in the dreaded 12-5 matchups.
Breathe easy, coach. This time it’s safe to go with the better seed.
Pojoaque Valley got 30 combined points from post players Tonni Aquino and Ashten Martinez in a 60-50 win over visiting Lovington in Friday night’s opening round of the Class 4A State Girls Basketball Tournament at Ben Luján Memorial Gymnasium. Seeded fifth in the 16-team field, the Elkettes (22-8) advance to next week’s quarterfinals against No. 4 Albuquerque Highland on Tuesday in The Pit.
Highland (19-7) rolled over visiting Roswell Goddard 65-34 in other 4A action Friday night, setting up a quarterfinal bracket in which Pojoaque Valley is the lone remaining team from the Santa Fe area. The Elkettes’ district rival, Española Valley, was beaten at home by No. 9 Bloomfield, 48-44.
“All I can tell you is the big upset in brackets like this usually comes from a 12 seed, so we were definitely focused for this one,” Martinez said. “Just win the games. That’s all you have to do. Don’t pay attention to the seeds and just win.”
Easier said than done. Lovington (13-13) put a scare into the Elkettes in each half. The Lady Wildcats led 9-4 midway through the first quarter and opened a seven-point lead late in the third.
Each moment was erased by prolonged runs from Pojoaque Valley, which used a 15-0 spurt to seemingly take control in the early going and then a dominant 19-3 run that scrubbed away Lovington’s 40-33 lead in the second half.
The first seven points in that later run came from three players. The next two came from the free throw line when Michaela Martinez put the Elkettes in front for good, 42-40.
It was in that moment that she and Ashten Martinez, two of the team’s three captains, had a brief exchange with the other players on the court.
“We just said, play with everything you have, play with your heart and that’s when they all [nodded] their heads and we went out there and took it,” Ashten Martinez said.
Pojoaque Valley converted 48 percent of their shot attempts, getting a number of high-percentage looks in the low post from Aquino and Ashten
Martinez. Aquino scored 12 of her team-high 18 points in the second half, all of them coming within a foot or two of the basket.
She was twice assisted on pretty feeds from Martinez as the two tag-teamed scoring opportunities against the smaller guard-oriented Lady Wildcats.
“I really try to follow what she does and get my energy from her,” Aquino said, tilting her head to the side as she gestured toward Martinez. “She’s older than me and gives me that leadership.”
Pojoaque’s defense forced 21 turnovers, nine of them coming in the final seven minutes as Lovington’s season started to slip away. The Lady Wildcats didn’t hit a shot in the final 3:11 and got their only two points from a pair of free throws.
Michaela Martinez had 12 points for Pojoaque while Hennessei Calabaza added nine and Anissa Herrera seven. Calabaza hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first quarter to tie it at 9-9, then had a pair of free throws late in the third quarter to kickstart the 19-3 run that turned the game around.
“It’s not just us that our team needs, it’s everyone else doing things like that,” Ashten
Martinez said. “Michaela is so important for us, all of them are. If we’re going to do this, we need everyone.”
Including the fans. Seledon Martinez said the one advantage Northern teams like his have this time of year is strength in numbers. It starts with the fans, whose numbers typically grow by leaps and bounds once the state tournament shifts to the Albuquerque area.
“Football is big down south, but basketball has always been the north’s,” he said. “The fans, they show up for our kids, and that’s what makes this time of year so special for teams like us.”