Junior drains ten vs. Mancos at home
As if the Lady Bobcats’ 2016-17 season hasn’t been special enough, given the abundance of young talent – in most games this winter, head coach Shane Seibel has started three freshmen – and that talent’s willingness to develop on the fly, an upperclassman recently forced the state to at least take some sort of notice.
Wielding Colorado high school girls’ basketball’s hottest hand, Ignacio junior guard Avionne Gomez burned Mancos Thursday, Feb. 16, for a state record-tying ten three-pointers, and was still warm enough two days later to lead a comeback against another 2A/1A San Juan Basin League team bent on not suffering a similar fate.
“We had a big team meeting today, and we talked about personal accountability – not putting blame on anybody … your coaches, your parents, whatever,” Seibel recalled after the 78-31 domination of MHS on Senior Night. “Take personal responsibility, and the girls responded.”
“I wanted all the seniors to have a good home game to remember – even Tori (Archuleta) and Alejandra (Lujan), who are currently out right now,” said Gomez, of achieving her larger objective in the team’s last regular-season game inside IHS Gymnasium this winter.
Scoring more points than the visiting Lady Jays, Gomez finished with 34 points – without attempting a free throw – and drained three triples in the first quarter, two in the second, three in the third and two in the fourth.
Her work came only nine calendar days after the 20th anniversary of Kerri Alsbaugh’s historic ten-trey day for then-4A Alamosa against Pueblo Centennial – bettering 5A Thornton Horizon star and future WNBA player Jamie Carey’s nine recorded not even two months earlier (in December, 1996) against 5A Boulder Fairview.
“I was very nervous out there!” said Gomez, the fifth individual to ever drill ten triples in CHSAA-sanctioned girls’ hoops. “I shot, like, nine threes and … I don’t know; I was just really nervous. It was a good day.”
“We just understood that it was a state record, ten,” said Seibel. “And we gave her an opportunity to hit it, and she did! She came out on fire.”
Wrapping up regular-season work on the 18th at 1A Ouray, Gomez scored a team-high 16 points – matched by freshman center/forward Morgan Herrera (who’d dropped 17 on Mancos) – in a hard-earned 47-44 win.
REVIEWING THE RECORD
Gomez’s ten makes from beyond the three-point arc were the most since 5A Aurora Regis Jesuit then-senior Anna Ptasinski sank ten on Feb. 18, 2014, as she logged 30 points in a 91-31 road win at Castle Rock-based 5A Douglas County.
Later to play at Otero JC in La Junta and University of Great Falls (MT), Alsbaugh’s mark had also been equaled previously by 3A Trinidad’s Ashleigh Ackerman (Feb. 23, 2003, against then-2A Rye) and Holly Reinke of 4A Denver D’Evelyn (Jan. 24, 2012, against 4A Arvada).
Ackerman went on to hoop at CSU-Pueblo and is currently a Colorado School of Mines assistant coach. Reinke became a star fast-pitch softball hurler for Colorado State University in Fort Collins, completing her career last May, and Ptasinski is currently a junior guard for Lafayette College (NCAA Division I) in Easton, Penn.
Going into the ’16-17 campaign, she was the Leopards’ top returning three-point shooter in Patriot League play, having hit 38.5% of her tries (and 35.8% against all opponents) as a sophomore. As of Feb. 25, 2017, she was leading LC in three-point makes, as well as overall percentage (33.1) for any player with more than ten.
JUST FOR THE ‘RECORD’
2A/1A San Juan Basin League Girls’ Basketball Box
Mancos 31, at Ignacio 78 (Feb. 16, 2017):
Mancos (6-14-5-6) 31 – K.Wallace 1 0-2 2, E.Asnicar 0 0-0 0, E.Cole 4 9-15 18, E.Most 0 1-2 1, B.Peacock 0 0-0 0, A.Cole 1 0-0 2, E.Peacock 1 0-3 2, I.Jaime 1 4-6 6. TOTALS: 8 14-28 31. 3-POINTERS: E.Cole. TOTAL FOULS: 11. FOULED OUT: None.
Ignacio (21-22-25-10) 78 – M.Howell 3 2-2 8, K.Valdez 1 0-0 2, L.Gallegos 2 0-0 4, A.Gomez 12 0-0 34, M.Herrera 6 5-10 17, P.Lyon 0 0-0 0, R.Cooper 0 1-2 1, I.Pena 0 0-0 0, S.Price 0 0-0 0, H.Pearson 1 0-0 2, J.Richards 0 0-0 0, F.Taverres 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 30 8-14 78. 3-POINTERS: Gomez 10. TOTAL FOULS: 22. FOULED OUT: Howell (5:17 left, Q4).