Lady Buffaloes roll

ELROSE - Every team wants to win its last home game. For the Melrose girls basketball team, though, Friday's victory was also a launching pad.

By routing 16th-seeded To'hajiilee 69-31 at Melrose High, the top-seeded Lady Buffaloes took the first of four steps necessary to capture a state Class A championship, and did so in decisive fashion.

When they next tip off, the Lady Buffs (22-6) will be at Bernalillo High School on Wednesday facing eighth-seeded Cimarron (19-9) in a 6:30 p.m. quarterfinal as they look to take Step Two.

Friday gave them a nice running start.

"It was a good game," Melrose head coach Caleb King said. "We had some rusty moments, just because we haven't played in a week. But once we got into the press, we did a pretty good job and got to execute some offensive stuff we wanted to do. So it's a good solid win tonight."

"We have to get over it now and focus on the next game," Melrose sophomore forward Hailey Martin said after leading all scorers with 22 points.

The Lady Buffaloes did begin a little slowly as they shook off some of that rust. Martin dropped in a pair of free throws during the first minute, and though Kiki Roybal collected a steal to end To'hajiilee's ensuing possession, Melrose couldn't turn it into points.

A bit later in the quarter, Martin hit a field goal to make it 4-0, but To'hajiilee's Azaria Werito soon scored to cut that margin in half. To'hajiilee had multiple possessions to tie or pull ahead but couldn't score, and on the last of those possessions, Melrose's Shannon May was able to collect a steal and drive for a layup to put her team up 6-2. It was the start of a 9-0 Buffalo run that also included two free throws each from Martin and Nataley Mondragon, and a right-corner three from Mondragon, giving Melrose a 13-2 lead.

On the To'hajiilee possession following Mondragon's trey, Audrey Harrison's basket finally ended the Lady Warriors' drought while pulling them within nine, and teammate Nicolette Begay soon tacked on a basket to make it 13-6. Melrose's next possession ended with a turnover and suddenly To'hajiilee had a chance to draw even closer.

But the Lady Warriors couldn't capitalize, and late in the period, Mondragon buried a left-elbow three to put Melrose up 16-6. Still, To'hajiilee was threatening as the quarter was ending, closing to within eight on Werito's inside basket just before the buzzer.

In the second quarter, however, Melrose seized control and never let go.

To'hajiilee missed a chance to pull within five or six after opening the new period with possession and not scoring. Melrose's Brette DeVaney supplied the initial points of the quarter with a layup, and on a later possession, Mondragon hit a free throw to make it 19-8.

A baseline runner from Begay cut Melrose's lead to nine, but as it turned out, that was the last time To'hajiilee was within single digits. A left-elbow two from Anjalina Sanchez gave Melrose a 21-10 lead, and two Mondragon free throws made it 23-10.

With the score 25-14, Melrose embarked on an 11-0 run to close out the half. It included a DeVaney field goal, an Avette Sanchez bank shot, two Roybal foul shots, a leftside trey from Mondragon, and a May basket off a turnover just before the halftime buzzer sounded. With that, Melrose was up 36-14.

And the Lady Buffaloes' momentum continued into the second half, as they scored on four consecutive possessions to build a 45-14 cushion. From there, they went breezing along like the tumbleweed soaring through the streets outside.

The game was in running-clock territory during the fourth quarter. And soon, after closing out a victory in which they shot 22-of-25 (88 percent) from the free-throw line, the Lady Buffaloes were quarterfinal-bound. Eight-time champion Elida, the team that defeated them in last year's title game, was dethroned Friday with a 66-40 road loss to Cimarron. So, Cimarron it is for the Lady Buffs.

"We're just looking forward to the next step," King said. "Now we've got to win three. Whoever wins three gets the whole thing."

"Every step is important now," Martin said. "We can't look forward to the big one, we have to go game by game."