Santa Fe High banks on strong foundation
Demonettes have six seniors and have been tough contenders
Standing just a few feet outside his team’s locker room in Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium, coach Nate Morris crossed his arms across his chest and pivoted to look up and over his left shoulder.
Up there, he said nodding in that direction, is why he thinks this season is going to be different for the Santa Fe High girls basketball program.
“Those six girls, they’re the reason I feel the way I do,” he said, pausing for a panoramic gaze at the poster-sized photos of the half-dozen seniors on this year’s Demonettes roster. “They’ve been here since the start. They know what we’re trying to do here. Those girls, they’re the foundation for all that we’ve done.”
Each player has a story Morris is proud of, from the grinding work ethic of guards Olivia Montoya, Laisha Diaz and Kabreya Garcia Romero to the commitment of forwards Marisol Serna, Alexis Espinoza and Sam Montoya, the coach is thankful for the foundation his lifers have provided.
Hired four years ago to resurrect a tradition that culminated with a state championship seven years ago, Morris thinks the potential of duplicating that feat is as close now as it has been at any time since 2014. Those Demonettes won 55 games in a two-year span that saw them emerge as one of the most dominant programs in what was then Class 4A.
“We have the talent in that locker room to be a special team,” he said. “I feel better about that now than I have since I came here.”
A football player at heart — Morris was recruited from California to play at the University of New Mexico in the late 1980s — he came to Santa Fe in 2018 and immediately laid the blueprint for getting things back on track.
He committed himself to a youth movement, embracing the incoming freshmen and middle schoolers in the hope of molding a team in his image. He wanted disciplined, tough and aggressive players who were
willing to sacrifice their egos in favor of a teamfirst approach.
He wanted unselfishness, cooperation and faith in the long-term goal.
“I think we’re right where we want to be,” Morris said. “Now all we have to go out and do is prove it. We have all the pieces we need. Now we just need to win.”
The Demonettes have already surpassed last season’s win total and clearly have the talent to finish on the plus side of .500 for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign. Those seniors are bolstered by a pair of rock-solid juniors who have the skills to take games over.
One of them is a familiar face in a not-so-familiar place.
Center Zuriel Vigil, a 6-foot-1 rim-protecting, rebounding machine, is back after missing last season due to what she said was a surgical procedure. She stayed in shape by playing club ball.
“It’s so good to be back,” Vigil said. “It definitely feels like it’s been longer than a year. You don’t really know how much you miss it until, you know, you don’t have it anymore.”
The other is guard Maci Cordova, an athletic 5-6 guard who will split time running the point with Garcia Romero. Cordova’s quickness and basketball IQ have been a perfect fit for a team that faces a challenging nondistrict schedule but appears to have more than a puncher’s chance in District 5-5A.
Los Lunas dominated the district last year but has gone into a rebuild after coach Marty Zeller resigned to take another position. Manzano and Rio Grande have continued to struggle while Capital was hit hard by graduation. On paper, it looks like a two-team race between the Demonettes and Albuquerque High.
Not so fast, says Morris.
“It’s a long season and it’s been a long four years,” he said. “We have to go out there and prove it but I’m telling you: I like this team. The girls have been through it with me and they know what I want. You don’t see people not doing their jobs or going another way. These players listen and they give effort, and that’s all I’ve wanted since we got here.”
While it is fun to put a spit shine on the crystal ball and try to gaze into the future, Morris isn’t making any predictions.
Neither are the players.
“Some games we don’t play all that good and we know it,” Vigil said. “We have to improve on things every day. We need to learn from those things and keep telling ourselves we can be better.”
It’s that humble grind that equates to sweet music for Morris. When it all comes together, he said, he trusts the players to run the system on their own.
When it doesn’t, he’ll employ the secret weapon he hopes will be there all the way through the first week in March when a new state champion is crowned.
“One of the best things about this team is I can sub five in and five out without losing anything,” Morris said. “A lot of teams don’t have that, but I’m confident that every player on this team can contribute. If that means putting in four or five new players at a time, I’ll do it. Even better is that they all understand what we’re trying to do.”
For a team that has meandered in the gray area of competitive-but-not-good the last half decade, the time has come to start believing, Morris said.
“You can believe because of those kids up there,” he said, again rolling his gaze in the direction of those portraits. “The seniors got us here. It’s their team now.”
“We have to go out there and prove it but I’m telling you: I like this team. The girls have been through it with me and they know what I want . ... These players listen and they give effort.”
Demonettes coach Nate Morris