The Montezuma-Cortez Lady Panthers erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime against the Monte Vista Pirates on Saturday.
Down by double digits with three minutes left, M-CHS senior Kelcie Ralstin knocked down consecutive deep 3-pointers to cut the lead to eight with less than two minutes remaining.
Yanibah Bayles scored with 45 seconds on the clock to trim the lead to five and, after forcing a Monte Vista turnover, Tayla Topaha put in a breakaway layup to bring M-CHS within three, 39-36.
Then, the Panthers defense pressured the Pirates into another turnover, giving M-CHS possession at half court, down by three with six seconds left.
“We had no timeouts, so I’m kind of in a panic because I can’t draw or give a play,” head coach John McHenry explained after the game. “So it was pretty much just get it in to Kelcie (Ralstin) or Simone (Lopez).”
The inbound pass went to Bayles at midcourt, but as the Monte Vista defense double-teamed her, she passed the ball up court to Lopez.
With the clock ticking, Lopez took two dribbles and launched a 25-footer that banked in as the buzzer sounded, tying the game at 39 and sending it into overtime.
Lopez banked in another 3-pointer in the extra period, but it would be the only score for the Panthers. Monte Vista outscored M-CHS 12-3 in overtime to win 51-42.
“I’m proud of the girls for delivering in that scenario,” McHenry said. “But then as soon as we tied it that was it.”
The Panthers struggled to find consistency on offense. After jumping out to a 10-5 first-quarter lead, M-CHS scored just five points in the second quarter and three in the third.
McHenry said that some of the rust could have been from the lack of practices due to the recent weather, but that his team was shooting too early in its possessions and not getting into the offense.
The Panthers got hot in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 points and finding success going inside to Topaha and Ralstin.
“We had great post play from Tayla (Topaha) and Kelcie (Ralstin),” McHenry said. “Kelcie is a good passer, and Tayla was using her body well. That’s what we should’ve been going with all game long, because we outsized them and we outposted them.”
Ralstin scored eight points in the fourth quarter, and Topaha added six of her 10 points in the fourth to help the Panthers come from behind to force overtime.
“They came out on us in a man press, so we just gave Kelcie the ball and we could just spread out and let Kelcie take her one-on-one,” McHenry said. “Then Tayla, she could outmuscle her girl, so then it just kind of became a two-man game and that’s what we wanted to do.”
Including her buzzer-beating heave in the fourth quarter, Lopez connected on four 3-pointers and tied with Ralstin with a team-high 12 points in the contest.
McHenry noted the significance of not just Lopez’s play, but the entire bench’s contributions, which were key in a game that saw senior point guard Kiselya Plewe foul out early in the fourth quarter.
“Lopez is a good shooter, and she’ll rally us,” he said. “So when we get in different portions of the game, Simone (Lopez) can shoot, Gabby (Wolf) can play defense, Aeisha (Capitan) can shoot, (Cortney) Cashner is all-around as another point guard, and the start of the fourth quarter was without Kiseyla (Plewe).”
McHenry said coming in to the game that the Panthers knew Monte Vista would look to push the tempo, and although his team limited their opportunities for much of the contest, there were mental lapses.
“There were times where we shot, we stood, they released, and there were a lot of gimmes,” he said. “A lot of their buckets were uncontested layups. So we’ve got to learn to get ourselves back and play defense and make them earn those points.”
The Panthers (5-2) will look to bounce back on Tuesday at home against Pagosa Springs (7-0), who was ranked No. 1 in Class 3A in CHSAANow’s last poll.
“That’s the way it’s going to be through this league,” McHenry said about the tough conference schedule. “There’s no gimmes. But by the time we get through this we’ll be battle tested.”