West Mesa stops Eldorado in semis
Mustangs will face Hope in title game
“Never.”
That was — as far as anyone could tell — the answer to the following: “When is the last time West Mesa beat Eldorado in a girls basketball game?”
As of today, that answer changed. Now, the appropriate response is “Yesterday.”
On Saturday, the Mustangs spotted Eldorado a 12-point lead midway through the first quarter and trailed by 11 late in the third quarter before coming back to beat the Eagles 67-62 in the semifinals of the Albuquerque Metro Championships at Del Norte.
West Mesa (9-1) faces Hope Christian (10-1) in Monday’s title game at 7 p.m. at Sandia. Hope, the only team to beat West Mesa this season, also took a comefrom-behind win Saturday, beating La Cueva 46-39.
(3) WEST MESA 67, (2) ELDORADO 62: Both West Mesa athletic director Shonn Schroer and third-year girls coach Manny Otero said they had recently searched record books, and could never find a game in which the Mustangs beat the Eagles. Eldorado, which opened in the early 1970s, has long been one of the state’s powerhouse programs.
“The last time West Mesa won district was back-to-back in 1977 and 1978, and we didn’t see that they (beat EHS) those years,” said Otero, the former Albuquerque High star guard who also played college ball at Marist. “That was the last time West Mesa was really competitive. So, it’s very possible this is the first time it’s happened.”
Schroer, also the boys basketball coach at West Mesa, has been athletic director at the school for 15 years, “and I couldn’t find a time we’ve ever beaten Eldorado in girls basketball.”
It didn’t look like it would happen on Saturday, when the Eagles scored the game’s first nine points on 3-pointers, two by Joely DePoy.
Eldorado upped the count to 16-4 when Shelby Bloom scored inside with 3:54 left in the quarter before the scrappy and young Mustangs went on a 15-4 run — capped by Jazmin Cordova’s 3 — to pull within 20-19 two minutes into the second quarter.
“I play a lot of young girls, but they have a lot of experience from playing in national tournaments,” Otero said. “They have great composure. The girls don’t worry if they’re down 5, down 10. They just never give up. We teach in practice that we have to be more scrappy, more aggressive.”
The Eagles, however, didn’t surrender the lead throughout the first three quarters. They built the margin to 47-36 midway through the third quarter before West Mesa rallied again.
The Mustangs got back-to-back jumpers from Jennifer Martinez to pull within 49-47 at the end of the third quarter. The second one of those Martinez field goals came at the horn.
The Mustangs finally took their first lead on Maiah Rivas’ 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. After two more lead changes, the Mustangs pulled away by scoring their final 12 points from the foul line.
Sophomore Esperanza Varoz led the Mustangs with 21 points while Rivas, also a sophomore, had 17.
Sydney Candelaria had a teamhigh 17 points for EHS (9-2) while DePoy scored 12 on four 3s.
(1) HOPE CHRISTIAN 46, (4) LA CUEVA 39: The Bears (7-5) led 10-5 after the first quarter, 23-20 at the half and 36-33 in the final minute of the fourth quarter. But Alivia Lewis led the Huskies on a 10-2 run to take control. She had eight straight for her team in one stretch.
With the game still in doubt, Hope coach Terry Heisey called a timeout with 1:30 remaining and his team in possession of the ball with a 43-39 lead. Seconds after the timeout, Hope’s Brielle Milford drained a 3 to put it away.
“No,” Heisey said with a laugh when asked if that was the play he called. “We were doing layups and free throws only, so we’ll have a discussion about that shot. She’s lucky she made it — but it was a dagger, that’s for sure.”
Milford said: “I was open, and just felt it. I was debating whether I should shoot it. I’m just happy it went in.”
Lewis led the defending Class 4A state champion Huskies with 18 points. La Cueva is 0-3 this season against Hope.
SUNDEVIL INVITATIONAL: In Saturday’s semifinals, St. Pius downed Moriarty 48-34 and Albuquerque Academy routed host Sandia Prep 75-27. As the Sartans and Chargers were already scheduled to play Thursday at Academy (7 p.m.), the private school rivals decided that they will make that the Sundevil tournament championship game.