CORTEZ – Ignacio girls basketball senior DaLaney Wesner registered a game-high 14 points and classmate Victoria Brown joined her in double figures offensively Tuesday evening, but after sophomore Maliyah Martinez, Brown and junior Alyssa Atencio all fouled out within the penultimate 15 seconds of regulation, hosting Montezuma-Cortez made two of six free throws to beat Ignacio 39-37.
After M-CHS’ Kyndall Schmitt grabbed a vital offensive rebound, senior Reyaunna Jones went to the charity stripe with 0:13.1 remaining as Martinez was given her disqualifying fifth personal foul. Jones missed both her shots but the Panthers regained possession and Brown fouled out.
That put M-CHS senior Kalea Ogo at the foul line for her opportunity to bring about a dramatic finish. With only 9.6 seconds left, she nailed the second of her two tries.
“It was like the whole world was on my shoulders. And I’d missed two – it was like ‘I don’t know if I can make just this one!’” she said. “But then I took a deep breath and remembered that it’s my senior year, and it’s better to do something than leave with nothing. I was just there in the moment, at the right time, and so I just had to shoot it … and hope it goes in.”
IHS then failed to get the lead or tie and Atencio instinctively fouled Schmitt with only 0:00.6 left on the clock.
The freshman then punctuated Montezuma-Cortez’s victory by making the latter of her two FTs, setting off a celebration that carried into an extensive senior night ceremony during which Ogo, Taylor Whited, Jones, Shaylynn Bia, Kayden Lee, Savannah Billings, Jori Polich and JV regular Alex Collins were all honored before a capacity crowd crammed into M-CHS Gymnasium.
“That was really special for me,” said Schmitt. “I just really wanted to give that to our seniors; I’m going to miss them so much, they were such a big part of my year this year.”
In a true back-and-forth battle, with neither side ever leading by more than five points, 4A Montezuma-Cortez (6-15 overall, 2-8 3A/4A Intermountain) emerged from the first quarter with a 9-8 advantage, 3A Ignacio (7-12, 3-6) eventually took a 16-14 lead in the second via a Brown 3-pointer.
The score then stood 18-14 before Ogo hit one of two FTs – resulting from Brown picking up her third personal foul – with 0:32.9 left until halftime. Whited then managed to steal the ball not long after IHS inbounded, and an easy layup cut the guests’ lead down to 18-17 going into intermission.
Ogo (11 points; 3-6 FT) began the third quarter with a go-ahead hoop, assisted by Jones, in the low post, and the Panthers gradually expanded their lead to 27-22.
Junior Juliann Avila’s 2-pointer during the last minute brought Ignacio back to 29-26, and Wesner regained IHS a 32-31 lead early in the fourth quarter with a long wing jumper. Taking a feed from Ogo, Lee snatched the lead back with 5:58 left but missed the ‘and-one’ bonus after being fouled.
Brown (10 points) then picked up her fourth personal 55 seconds later, but a little while after Martinez sank a sudden, but wide-open corner three knotting the score at 35-35.
“That kind of came out of nowhere,” she said. “My shots were not falling at all, whatsoever, but I didn’t think about it; I just knew that my team trusts me – and I trust them – so I had to take the risk to keep us in the game.”
“I was happy we got that; it was much-needed,” said Wesner, who then swished a long 2-pointer from the near wing with 2:44 to go, only to see Jones retie at 37-all off a pass from junior center Siana Elliott. The game’s pace then drastically slowed as both sides began playing for just a winning shot.
Whited ended up with seven points, while Schmitt (4-6 FT) totaled six.
Avila totaled eight points in defeat, but senior Marissa Olguin was held to just two (of four attempted) free throws.
Ignacio hosted Alamosa (15-5, 7-2) on Friday. Results weren’t available when this article was published. Montezuma-Cortez traveled to MVHS (10-10, 4-6 IML) on Friday but the score wasn’t available when this article was published.
