After winning the jump ball on Saturday afternoon, the Alamosa Mean Moose (5-8) worked the ball around the perimeter for nearly a minute.
The Montezuma-Cortez Lady Panthers (7-7) were in a 2-3 zone, and they shifted around the perimeter following the ball, allowing Alamosa to get in the paint just once before forcing a turnover.
The opening defensive stop appeared to a momentum-builder for the Lady Panthers, but Alamosa senior Brooke Trujillo quickly dispelled the notion that the Alamosa offense would be hampered by the Panthers’ zone.
Trujillo knocked down three 3-pointers in the opening frame to give Alamosa a 16-10 lead to start the second. There, she hit another 3-pointer – and Jessica Archuleta added one of her own – as the Mean Moose built a 30-19 lead midway through the quarter.
“I mean, [Trujillo] and [Archuleta] drilled us from the outside,” said M-CHS head coach John McHenry. “When that happens, we have to step out there a little bit more which will open up the inside. So then we have to get a little bit quicker with our rotations.”
The Lady Panthers trailed by six to end the first, and after getting down by double-digits midway through the second, they fought back to within five and entered the half down by seven.
“I’m proud of the girls,” McHenry said following the game. “They stayed patient, even though they drilled a couple of threes, we kind of reeled that back in.”
Kiselya Plewe led the Lady Panthers with 10 first-half points and Yanibah Bayles scored seven during their second-quarter run.
Inside, the Panthers were able to get senior Gabby Wolf in one-on-one situations, and she utilized her athleticism to score six first-half points.
“We were having good looks with isolations with Gabby and I think that’s what they adjusted to at halftime,” McHenry said. “Because they saw that we were going in to Gabby and she was beating her girl, so they wanted to zone and get rotations over there and try to double team her.”
Alamosa had pressured the Lady Panthers in the first half with a full-court man defense, and while it led to a handful of turnovers, M-CHS was able to break it for the most part.
“If we can just get it into Kiselya and clear the floor, that’s all that press is trying to do,” McHenry explained of the man-to-man pressure. “If you can get the ball in, then they’ll back out.”
But to start the third quarter, Alamosa came out in a 2-2-1 press, and it flummoxed the Lady Panthers.
The Mean Moose opened the third on an 11-2 run, exploiting M-CHS turnovers and eventually ending the quarter up by 17.
“They came out in that zone press and it caught us a couple of times,” McHenry said. “Instead of clearing and Kiselya being able to bring it down, she had to give it up and we were just trying to take it downhill too soon, too fast, and turnovers [mounted].”
After building a sizeable lead, Alamosa rode out the clock in the fourth to go on to win, 56-42.
Trujillo hit five 3-pointers in the game and led Alamosa with 24 points and Archuleta scored 12.
Plewe led the Lady Panthers with 15 points, Bayles scored 10 and Wolf finished with six.
