Lady Panthers runner-up in tough district
Peñasco to still get playoff spot
The Escalante Lady Lobos dashed Peñasco’s hopes of winning the district championship title on Saturday (Feb. 25).
After getting an early season victory over Escalante in January, the Lady Panthers have been unable to get the better of the Lady Lobos since. In the district championship game, Peñasco was held to their second-lowest scoring performance this season, with 31 points.
Analise MacAuley, who scored 18 points in the district semifinals, did not score against Escalante. MacAuley did fill up the rest of the stat sheet, however, with five blocks, three steals and seven rebounds in the losing effort.
The Lady Panthers were only down 19-16 to start the third quarter, but Escalante went on a 31-15 run in the second half to close out Peñasco.
Emma Maestas led all scorers with 15 points for the Lady Lobos.
Analise MacAuley and Rochelle Lopez combined for 30 of Peñasco’s 43 points. MacAuley took care of the paint with 10 rebounds and 2 blocks
while Lopez and Charnelle Gonzalez applied on-ball pressure with 7 steals combined. Alexuis Romero led Peñasco with 11 rebounds.
While the Lady Panthers did not end the season with the best record in the district or win the district championship game, their performance against tough opponents has earned Peñasco a playoff-berth as the ninth ranked team in Class 2A.
They will head on the road and face the Dulce Hawks on Friday (March 3) for the first round of the playoffs.
The Penasco Lady Panthers scored 43 points and held hosting Mesa Vista to 39 points in their district tournament triumph over the Lady Trojans on Thursday (Feb 23). This evens up the head-to-head series against Mesa Vista, with the Lady Trojans taking the first pair of games and the Lady Panthers taking the last two contests. The two teams could meet again as they are on the same side of the Nusenda Credit Union State Basketball Championships bracket. The potential matchup would take place in the semifinals.