Eagles’ girls help complete sweep of Bears
Victory comes day after Eldorado boys prevailed at La Cueva
Rich Harbin and his Eldorado Eagles made it a clean road sweep at La Cueva.
Less than 24 hours after the Eldorado boys beat the Bears on the road by rallying from behind in the fourth quarter, Harbin’s girls did the same thing Saturday afternoon, coming back to beat La Cueva 58-49 in an early showdown for first place in District 2-6A.
“We just asked them to stay composed and to trust our system,” said Harbin after earning the most important win in his first season coaching the burnt orange after a lengthy and prosperous stint at Valley. “We had to get some stops (in the fourth quarter) and that’s where it started.”
Until there was 5:18 left in the fourth, ninth-ranked Eldorado (13-5, 4-0 in 2-6A) had led only once, and that was on the opening basket of the game.
But that changed when senior guard Vivian Chavez nailed a 3-pointer from up top for a 42-40 Eldorado lead.
“Vivian is Vivian,” Harbin said. “She goes and does her thing, and she’s a great leader.”
And that triple occurred during a stretch of 5½ minutes of basketball when Eldorado — which trailed 40-35 after three quarters — outscored the Bears 13-2 to open the final 8 minutes.
“We just started knocking down our shots,” said Chavez, a senior who played through an illness Saturday. “We had a huge momentum shift.”
There was never any major separation between the rivals Saturday.
The Bears (10-8, 3-1) did lead for most of the first 3½ quarters, true, but the Eagles were on their heels the entire way. La Cueva had a six-point lead late in the first half after Kaya Ingram’s 3-pointer, and the Bears led 30-25 at halftime.
Eldorado caught La Cueva a couple of times in the third quarter without going ahead, as first Ingram on a driving layup, and then Brooke Nelson with a corner 3, kept the Bears in front.
But as La Cueva’s offense went cold in the fourth quarter, Eldorado did finally catch and pass the Bears, and even created some distance.
Colexi Brazier scored off the glass for a 44-42 lead with 4½ minutes left for the Eagles. On the next Eldorado possession, Alexis Chavez authored the niftiest pass of the game, firing through traffic to a cutting Micah Livesay in the lane. She laid it in for a 46-42 lead. La Cueva didn’t threaten again down the stretch.
Ingram led the Bears with 22 points. La Cueva struggled in the fourth quarter to hit key jump shots.
Laney Lucero had 14 points and Livesay 11 for Eldorado.