Lady Sundevils show promise in 64-47 loss to Cleveland

Dec. 3—Coach Joe Estrada will take moments.

He just wants them to last longer.

There are times when the Española Valley Lady Sundevils reveal their potential to Estrada. But those were few and unsustained in the girls semifinal of the Bobby Rodriguez Capital City Tournament on Friday afternoon.

Facing a bigger, more physical Rio Rancho Cleveland squad, Española could not consistently use its quickness to offset its lack of height. Add to that a suddenly hot pair of shooters in Kendall Sandoval and Savannah Madueno, who combined to hit seven 3-pointers, the Storm advanced to the tournament championship with a 64-47 win.

Española, which plays Albuquerque Valley for third place at 2 p.m. Saturday, dug itself a hole in the opening quarter, falling behind 17-5 when Noelle Manzanares hit a baseline runner with 2:26 left.

It was moment for the young Lady Sundevils (1-3), who have just three seniors, to wilt. Instead, they responded by scoring the next six points and crept to within 17-11 on Hannah Martinez's free throw just 13 seconds into the second quarter.

Estrada said when the Lady Sundevils began to attack the basket and kick the ball out when the defense collapsed, they began to show some cohesion.

"That's where basketball has gone — drive and kick," Estrada said. "I thought we did a good job driving, but those [Class] 5A teams, they play good defense, and it's hard to get shots off. Even when you get the ball out to the shooters, they get out on them and they're long."

Unfortunately, that's when the best laid plans went awry. The Storm (2-2) did not hit a single 3 in a 37-22 win over Los Alamos in Thursday's opening round. Sandoval drained consecutive 3s in a 53-second span to open the lead to 23-11 and had four triples by that point.

Sandoval finished with 19 points with five 3s. When she cooled off, Madueno heated up with a pair of treys during a decisive 10-1 run that quelled Española's comeback attempt.

It was spurred by a press that forced five Cleveland turnovers and turned the game into a momentary track meet as the Lady Sundevils outscored Cleveland 19-9 to get within 54-43 before the Storm responded.

Estrada said his only regret was not pressing sooner. "We're still learning this team," Estrada said. "We're still feeling things out. I thought when we went into that full-court press, we caused a lot of problems. But we went to it maybe too late."

During those moments, the Lady Sundevils showed their quickness and ability to attack the basket. Senior forward Rhianna Padilla scored nine points during Española's rally, and sophomore Alicia Chavez had seven of her 10 points in the fourth quarter to help keep Española in shouting distance.

SemifinalValencia 37, Abq. Valley 30A year ago,the Lady Jaguars played for the Capital City title.

They returned to the championship by using a 14-6 scoring run in the third quarter that extended an 18-17 halftime lead to 32-23 heading into the fourth.

Valencia (4-0) failed to score a basket over the final 8 minutes but were 5-for-6 down the stretch.

Jadyn Montoya scored nine of her 12 points in the first half for the Lady Jaguars. Iliana Aragon paced the Lady Vikings (1-3).

Valencia plays Rio Rancho Cleveland for the tournament title at 5 p.m.

ConsolationSt. Michael's 32, Los Alamos 30It was another nail biter for the Lady Horsemen after an overtime loss to Española, but they did just enough to hold off the Lady Hilltoppers and avoid the seventh-place game. They will face Rio Rancho for fifth place at 11 a.m.

St. Michael's (3-1) only hit three of eight free throws in the fourth quarter, but it was enough.

Lauryn Pecos led the Lady Horsemen with 12 points, while Maddy Mossman added nine. Los Alamos, which was without leading scorer G.G. Romero, had Abigail Martinez score all 11 points in the second half.

The Lady Hilltoppers (0-3) play host Santa Fe High at 8 a.m. for seventh place.

Rio Rancho 55, Santa Fe High 28The Demonettes were within 28-18 at the half against the Lady Rams, but the offense dried up. They scored just 10 points the rest of the way, with just three in the fourth as Rio Rancho (3-1) expanded a 43-25 lead.

Isabella Lovato led Santa Fe High (0-2) with 10 points, and Katelyn Padilla added eight. Makenna Lee scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half for the Lady Rams, who had nine players score.