Portales trounces Lady Dons

ALBUQUERQUE — For at least a half, the ninth-seeded West Las Vegas Lady Dons had Cinderella dreams.

Then cruel reality set in, as top-seed Portales pounded the glass, racked up the points in the paint and ramped up its perimeter defense en route to a 57-31 triumph in a Class AAAA girls semifinal in The Pit on Tuesday.

After a competitive first half saw both teams head up the ramp tied at 21-apiece, the Lady Rams imposed their will down the stretch. Over the course of a dominant second half, Portales outrebounded West Las Vegas 31-12, shot 45 percent from the floor and held the Lady Dons to just one field goal in 16 minutes. By comparison, Portales held a slight 19-18 rebounding edge in the opening half, shot 32 percent and allowed their opponent to hang tough behind timely 3-point shooting.

“In the second half, I think what got us was Portales rebounding, especially on the offensive end,” West Las Vegas coach Jose Medina said. “In the second half they really hit the boards on the offensive end. [They] got a lot of putback shots, we fouled them and they made free throws. They were able to open up the lead on us.”

The Lady Rams (22-6) wasted little time in putting some distance between themselves and the Lady Dons (20-10), as they scored the first seven points of the third quarter and never looked back. By the time Jaylen Gutierrez made West Las Vegas’ first —and only — field goal of the second half, a little less than 7 minutes remained in the game and Portales was ahead by a comfortable 43-26 margin. The game was never in doubt from there.

“I wasn’t used to being stopped like that,” said Gutierrez, who led the Lady Dons with 10 points but shot just 2-for-12 from the field. “They really put a lockdown when I [took] it to the basket. Usually it’s an easy way to get a foul, and they played some pretty lockdown defense. I wasn’t getting the call and they weren’t really fouling me.”

Meanwhile, the perimeter looks that were falling for the Lady Dons early simply weren’t available in the second half. After making four of 10 3-pointers in the first 16 minutes, West Las Vegas missed all five of its attempts after halftime. Deanna Bustos, who hit 2 of 3 from deep and scored eight points in the first half, failed to even attempt a shot in the third and fourth quarter.

“They pretty much just keyed up on me and just played all around better defense in the second half,” Bustos said. “It worked because we couldn’t get an open shot or a good look.”

The early morning start didn’t seem to faze the Lady Dons, as they scored the game’s first six points en route to a 10-4 first-quarter lead. The margin could have been greater, but West Las Vegas was unable to convert a couple of easy opportunities at the basket.

“We missed a couple bunnies inside,” Medina admitted. “We missed some free throws. If you put those in, it might change the look of the game, but Portales did what they had to do.”

Kambrey Blakey led the way for Portales with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Bailey Rowley and Sheraya Cox chipped in 11 points each for the Rams. All told, Portales outrebounded West Las Vegas 50-30 and held the Lady Dons to 17 percent shooting – including seven percent in the second half.

“There are nights when the shots aren’t falling. Some nights the defense is taking away what you want,” said Portales coach Wade Fraze. “We stress that you can always play defense, you can always rebound. That just takes effort and heart and being in position.”