Lady Wildcats push Peñasco to the edge
The Questa Lady Wildcats were outclawed 43-41 in Thursday’s (Feb. 2) district duel by the visiting Peñasco Lady Panthers.
Lady Panther Analise MacAuley registered another doubledouble for the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. She also provided three steals and a block in the hard-fought victory. Rochelle Lopez made her presence felt, picking the pockets of the Lady Wildcats four times and swatting away three of Questa’s shot attempts.
The big three of Alyse Lovato, Karina Rael and Aliyah Santistevan kept the Lady Wildcats close. They combined for 34 of Questa’s 43 points.
Peñasco held a 12-point lead to start the fourth quarter. The Lady Wildcats blitzed Peñasco on the inbounds from the baseline, helping Questa force turnovers. They made a small dent in the lead after a Lovato 3-pointer from the left wing to come within five points of Peñasco, 37-32.
With less than a minute to go, Questa was down 43-32, but Peñasco had no answer for the desperate press Questa applied. Instead of running out the clock, they kept giving away the ball to Questa. Between getting steals and being in the bonus, the Lady Wildcats made it 43-41 with less than three seconds left to go, but time ran out as Peñasco executed an inbound pass.
Coach Mandy Mantoya spoke with the Taos News on grinding out the win and how the season has turned out so far.
“Season is going good. Kind of dealing with a lot of sickness. Then, we got three girls rolled their ankles this game,” she said. “We were down a starter ... But it just came down to one of those games that you have to kind of win ugly and kind of grind it out and we walked away with a W and, really, that’s all that matters.”