Indian School’s defense hammers Newcomb
Lady Braves win 58-27 to play Tucumcari on Tuesday
It’s not written down anywhere and, as far as one can tell, it’s not inscribed on a T-shirt quite yet, but there may be a slogan in the works for the Santa Fe Indian School girls basketball team.
“The magic number is 40.”
As in, 40 points. If they at least score that many, the Lady Braves’ chances of winning go up significantly. They’ve won 15 of the last 19 games in which they’ve hit the 40-point plateau.
Their only losses all season when hitting 40 have come to teams in the state tournament.
“We’ve talked about that, yes,” said SFIS coach Khadijha Jackson after her team steamrolled Newcomb, 58-27, in Friday night’s opening round of the Class 3A State Tournament at Pueblo
Pavilion. The fourth-seeded Lady Braves (18-9) move into Tuesday’s quarterfinals at the Rio Rancho Events Center. They’ll face No. 5 Tucumcari, a 54-32 winner over Ruidoso in other action Friday night.
All eight of 3A’s top seeds advanced, including all four teams in District 2-3A. Seven of Friday’s winners moved on with double-digit victories.
The Lady Braves and Rattlers will meet at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday in the third 3A game of the day.
That should give Jackson plenty of time to break down the film from Friday’s win, one that was secured early on with defense. The Lady Braves used an aggressive press to take control in the final four minutes of the opening quarter. A handful of Newcomb turnovers in transition led to an 8-0 run fueled by the defense.
“We came in here wanting to do just that, play hard defense,” Jackson said. “We’ve worked on the defense a
lot. If we play like we did tonight we’re usually going to be OK.”
Newcomb (12-17) was held to 25% shooting in the first half and had 13 miscues at the break. SFIS led by at least 10 points for the last two and a half quarters.
The fact the defense played as well as it did took the onus off the problems at the other end. Never to be confused with a high-octane, well-oiled offensive machine, the Lady Braves do just enough with the ball to keep things moving forward.
The team combined for six 3-pointers and at least 14 points in every quarter.
The Lady Braves reached the magic number late in the third quarter when Aaliyah Valencia hit a shot to make it 41-20. Valencia was one of three Lady Braves in double figures, finishing with 11 points.
The team’s two low post players, Kaydence Riley and Emma Lewis were forces in the paint. Riley had a game-high 19 points, all of them coming in the first three quarters, while Lewis did most of her work rebounding the ball and impacting Newcomb’s play around the rim.
SFIS guard Daneen Herrera had 15 points on the strength of three 3-pointers. Lewis had six points.
Jackson said she doesn’t really consider Riley and Lewis as standard low-post bigs. She said the definition of a true low-post player is more like a center or power forward and less like a guard.
“I don’t think of them that way, as bigs, at all,” Jackson said. “They’re so much more than that. With this team, they have to be. They might look like posts but they’re not.”
Each can defend the basket and clear the glass, something Jackson wasn’t too pleased with Friday. She said the team needs to do a better job ensuring oneshot possessions on defense. Newcomb had seven offensive rebounds in the first half alone.
“If we’re going to make a run [at state], we need to clean up the boards and take care of the ball,” Jackson said. “We’re not going to score a lot of points, but if we can force turnovers and limit the other team’s rebounds, I think we can do something next week.”
NOTES
SFIS is two wins shy of reaching 20 for the season. The Lady Braves have won at least 21 games in every non-COVID season since 2016-17 when they finished 16-11. … A SFIS win against Tucumcari would set up a potential showdown with No. 1 Tohatchi in the semifinals. Tohatchi routed Crownpoint on Friday, 58-37.