Season ends with 50-13 road loss
Even with a roster more or less back at full strength, the Ignacio Lady Bobcats were simply overpowered, often literally, at Monte Vista in a 50-13 road loss Thursday evening, Feb. 26.
Held to only two field goals – a trey and a deuce, both made during the third quarter, and both fired up and in by senior forward Juliann Avila – all game, IHS couldn’t get anything to fall until junior guard Maliyah Martinez hit one of two free throws with 0:41.8 left in the second quarter.
Unfortunately, MVHS had quickly and authoritatively built upon senior guard Reagan Futrell’s game-opening layup and owned a 17-0 advantage before Martinez was fouled by Lady Pirate junior Destiny Pacheco and stepped to the charity stripe. But not long after Ignacio (4-18 overall, 2-10 3A/4A Intermountain) avoided being shut out on the scoreboard, freshman forward Justina Jessepe was hit with her third personal foul, and MVHS junior Krissa Padilla made one of two FTs with 27.3 ticks left.
Down 11-0 after the opening eight regulation minutes and 18-1 through 16, the Lady ’Cats showed life early after intermission, with Martinez making one of two FTs only nine seconds after play resumed, and Avila draining her three-pointer with 6:21 left and clipping the Lady Pirates’ lead down to 18-5.
But Monte Vista junior guard Reminee Mascarenas then netted the home team’s first two-pointer of the new half, junior Janessa Marquez drilled especially damaging back-to-back threes, and junior Cindy Cereceres added two FTs as the gap re-grew to 28-6 – and reached 32-10 before the third quarter expired.
And as if things seemingly couldn’t worsen for the guests, senior guard Alyssa Atencio – playing, along with Avila, in likely her last game in an Ignacio uniform – picked up her disqualifying fifth personal with 6:59 left in the contest. The scoreboard even flashed as much, but due to a bizarre oversight, Atencio remained on the court – and almost until the very end.
Jessepe, however, wasn’t as lucky and, having already picked up four personals during the second quarter, officially fouled out just 12 seconds later. Hit with a strange technical foul during the first frame for an apparent verbal utterance, Avila then fouled out with 5:54 left, and Monte Vista (12-10 overall, 6-6 IML) all the more eager to capitalize.
Senior Heysenny Beltran nailed two threes during the fourth quarter and senior Evie Hinds one, as the Lady Pirates’ only remaining Senior/Parent Appreciation Night objective appeared to be making sure that each active player booked at least one point to share in the victory.
Sophomore reserve Trinatty Romero became the 12th Lady Pirate to score, via a breakaway layup off a long outlet pass from Mascarenas, who somewhat reluctantly dispossessed Atencio at the other end of the floor after Atencio (3-6 FT, 3 points) crumpled onto it, clutching her right ankle and requiring aid to at last exit the action with 2:26 still remaining.
Avila ended up with a team-leading five points, while Martinez (4-6 FT) logged four and junior forward Aubree Lucero (1-3 FT) one. Beltran and Marquez finished with eight points apiece to pace postseason-bound MVHS, while Mascarenas totaled seven and senior Madison Henderhan six as 13 of head coach Shawna Larson’s 14 players contributed offensively.
AFTERMATH
Monte Vista finished regular-season play standing 19th in CHSAA’s Selection & Seeding Index (Ignacio was 37th), and after receiving the No. 18 seed in the Class 3A State Tournament’s opening Round-of-32, will next meet No. 15 Colorado Springs St. Mary’s (14-9 overall) at 7 p.m. Friday, March 6, up in Wiggins. Hosting the four-team Region II event, 2-seed WHS (19-4) will first play 31-seed Bailey Platte Canyon (12-10) at 5:30; the winning teams will then battle the next afternoon at 1 p.m.