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Lady Hawks Short in Semis, 45-41
A tough loss in a game that was physical and emotional at times was played on the hardwood last week when the third seeded Lady Laguna-Acoma Hawks basketball team (21-10,5-1) battled it out with the Lady Wolverines of Texico (17-13,5-1), a seventh seed. The Lady hawks came up short 45-41. 'It doesn't take anything away from what we learned this season—to play together and stick together,' said Head Coach Daryl Mariano on this season. In this photo, LA's Sofia Lazos, 23, battles Catelyn Bresheaers, 3, of Texico for a rebound. Franklin Romero - CC
High School’s major basketball tournament had the third seeded Laguna-Acoma Lady Hawks march into the Rio Rancho events center on March 9. Here, they went head-to-head with the seventh seeded Lady Texico Wolverines (1713,5-1) for a classic hardwood battle that, in the end, left the Lady Hawks four points short of advancing to the championship game.
“We just fell short of our goal–our buckets didn’t fall,” said Laguna-Acoma Head Coach Daryl Mariano. “We had our mental breakdowns and little miscues, which, in a big game like this are very critical.”
The Lady Hawks trailed by as much as 10 points in the first half but managed to tighten it up and only trail by a bucket at half-time, 34-33. “We changed from zone to begin with, and went to man, and that helped slow them down,” said Mariano. The adjustment was to primarily slow down the powerful guard of the Lady Wolverines, Catelyn Breshears, 3, who ended up with 21 points in that game as well made the last six points in the waning moments of the game. “Her (Breshears) resilience was key to their win – she found ways to tear us apart inside,” said Mariano.
Neck-and-neck, and with the fourth quarter wrapping-up – in the last time out, Mariano told his team, “We are playing a good game, things are working—however, the buckets aren’t dropping for us–had they dropped it would be a different game.”
The Lady Hawks shot 23 percent from the field and were 14 of 24 for free throws in that game. Texico was 38 percent from the field and nine of 15 for free throws.
Senior Sylvia Gedman led the night in rebounding with 20 boards, while Breshears led the Wolverines with 10. As a team, the Wolverines rebounded 40 boards to the Hawks 37. “Our focus coming into the game was rebounding,” said Mariano of the rebounding which kept them in that game.
Gianna Carrillo, 2, who led the Lady Hawks in scoring, had 14 points at the half. She led the Lady Hawks with 15 total points at the end of the night, followed by Gedman with 11 points.
Carrillo summed up the game, “We win some and we lose some.”
The Lady Hawks finish their season with a record of 21-10, 5-1 and will only lose two seniors: Gedman, and point guard Erica Martin.