Wingate snatches fifth from IHS, 46-43
Somehow able to squeak into last season’s 16-team NMAA Class 3A State Championships despite being on a ten-game losing streak, 15th-seeded Wingate High’s girls were then unsurprisingly dispatched by 33 points in the first round by No. 2 Las Vegas Robertson.
It wasn’t the first time WHS had been blown out by such a margin; including a 59-2 loss to Navajo Pine, the Lady Bears were probably fortunate to actually go 3-9 in District 1-3A play and survive the winter standing 7-21 overall.
Times have certainly changed.
And Ignacio, unluckily, learned that firsthand while closing out the Old Year portion of its 2024-25 schedule at Aztec, New Mexico’s three-day (Dec. 19-21) “Rumble in The Jungle.” Pit against Fort Wingate-based WHS during the Saturday session with fifth place at stake, the Lady Bobcats battled back from a shaky first quarter but suffered a fourth frame collapse as the Lady Bears made off with a 46-43 win.
Junior Alyssa Atencio scored 12 points, senior Marissa Olguin totaled ten (all in the second half, including two three-pointers) and senior Victoria Brown eight in defeat. Senior DaLaney Wesner logged six points but was slowed by four personal fouls. Juliann Avila chipped in four points and Maliyah Martinez three, but after erasing deficits of 15-10 through one quarter and 23-20 at halftime, IHS couldn’t improve upon—or maintain—a 33-32 advantage beginning the final eight regulation minutes.
Perhaps frustrated by making only one of six free throws during the first quarter, in which Wingate could have really put Ignacio in a hole, WHS junior forward Uriah Garcia closed out the contest logging six of her game-high 16 points during the fourth.
Junior forward/center Keira Casamero and senior guard Morning Sky Iron Moccasin each drained a three-pointer during the final frame, offsetting singular treys by Atencio and Olguin, as the Lady Bears (7-4 overall, 0-0 Dist. 1-3A) successfully followed up a 39-36 win over 3A Montezuma-Cortez in one consolation semifinal.
Olguin and Iron Moccasin were each declared All-Tournament performers.
Trying to complete a full recovery from a 35-22 loss to 4A Belen, N.M., on the Rumble’s opening afternoon, Ignacio (4-3 overall, 0-0 CHSAA 3A/4A Intermountain) had then hammered 1A Shiprock, N.M., Northwest in the other consolation semi—assuring the Lady ’Cats of at least one win inside Lillywhite Gymnasium.
And it came relatively easy; after blanking Northwest 14-0 in the first quarter, IHS entered halftime leading 36-8, and later started the fourth quarter in complete control, 46-11, en route to a conservative 47-12 (also reported as 51-12; the scorebook’s running score and individual point totals for Ignacio, however, stopped at 47) conquest.
Including her team’s entire second-quarter production, sophomore Mya Begay paced the Lady Falcons with ten points despite going 3-of-9 from the free-throw line. Ivory Woody netted Northwest’s other two points during the third quarter.
Brown, meanwhile, went off for eight points in the third and finished with a game-high 11 for Ignacio. Wesner and Avila both came close to double figures, totaling eight points apiece, and Martinez scored seven. Atencio—who went 5-of-8 from the charity stripe against Wingate, as IHS finished 8-of-11—and Olguin each contributed five points, and Veronica Brown one.
In the loss to Belen, Olguin paced the Lady ’Cats with her seven points. Avila, Victoria Brown and Wesner—the only reserve head coach Travis Nanaeto was able to utilize—each finished with four points, while Martinez managed two and Atencio one as Ignacio trailed 9-4 after the first quarter, 21-12 at halftime and 29-15 after three quarters.
Senior Jadarose Wright tallied a game-high 11 points for the Lady Eagles, who actually went scoreless for the first 4:32 before junior Dani Bob (nine points) sank a three-pointer slicing IHS’ 4-0 lead down to practically nothing. Freshman reserve Lydia Hull logged four points and senior regular Sara Martinez three, but junior starter Alyssa Trujillo was held to two before she fouled out with 3:58 left in the contest.
BHS eventually improved to 5-5 overall by defeating 4A Grants (4-6), N.M., 39-36, for third place, while 5A Durango (6-2 overall) completed a 3-0 tourney run by downing the hosting Lady Tigers (6-4) in the championship, 39 to 27.