Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Elida's boys also playing for championship
Melrose's Sorrell Allen tries to make a move to the hoop while being defended by To'hajiilee's Makayla Yazzie (left) and Erynn Montehermoso during Friday's Class 1A girls basketball semifinal at Bernalillo's Spartan Gym. On left is Melrose teammate Paityn Nicholson.
Melrose's Graci Odom makes a move along the baseline against To'hajiilee defender Alyce Apachito during Friday's Class 1A girls basketball semifinal at Bernalillo's Spartan Gym.
BERNALILLO – The Melrose girls basketball team looked as if it was in trouble during the first half Friday, but it wore down To'hajiilee, outscoring the Lady Warriors by 20 points in the second half en route to a 50-35 victory.
That moves Melrose into the Class A girls championship against Fort Sumner/House Saturday morning. Game time is 10 a.m.
Also Saturday, Elida's boys play Magdalena at 6 p.m. for the Class A title. Elida beat Mesilla Valley Christian, 86-69, in the semifinals.
The Melrose Lady Buffs fell behind by as many as eight points in the first half of their Class 1A semifinal and trailed To'hajiilee 21-15 at intermission at Bernalillo High School's Spartan Gym. To'hajiilee went on a 10-3 run at one point in the second quarter.
Melrose coach Caleb King mostly told his players at halftime to keep doing what they were doing. The plan was to wear out the Lady Warriors.
To'hajiilee totals eight players on its varsity roster, but coach Thomas Sullivan Jr. acknowledged he plays only six.
As a result, he said his team tends to start fast, then tires and falls into foul trouble.
"You can see it in our style of play, where we play a lot of halfcourt, we don't press and sit back in a (defensive) zone," Sullivan said of his team's lack of numbers. "That's the way we've been all season – we play really well in the first half, then hit a lull and get tired. When you get tired, you make bad decisions and make bad passes. That's been our theme the whole season."
Point guard Erynn Montehermoso and center Alyce Apachito each scored 13 points to lead To'hajiilee, which finished its season 20-5.
"They can really shoot the basketball, their big players do a good job, and their point guard is really tough," King said. "But you have to wear them down, get them a little bit tired. That's mainly what our strategy was. I told our girls, 'Keep having faith, and we'll have a better second half and just keep working.'"
King conceded he made a minor tweak to his team's offense in the second half so Isabelle Sena could get outside to the baseline and penetrate to the basket more.
Sena finished with a game-high 15 points. Johanna Roybal added 14 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half to help the Lady Buffs rally to a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
"Defensively, we didn't do anything differently. We just kept the pressure on them," King said.
Melrose finished with a 15-4 run to increase its lead to double-digit territory.
The Lady Buffs also effectively ran a four-corners offense in the last three minutes to prevent any chance of a Lady Warriors comeback.
