The Ignacio High School girls basketball team put on a show in the Pine River Rivalry, and Hilda Garcia finished with 25 points to lead Ignacio over the Bayfield Wolverines, 68-35.
Ignacio (8-3, 4-0 2A/1A San Juan League) had control of the game from the opening tip and Bayfield (3-8, 0-3 3A Intermountain), couldn’t survive a first-half surge from Ignacio as Garcia had 19 points at halftime. Bayfield played a good game but had a hard time matching up with Garcia, who went 5-for-6 from the 3-point line.
Bayfield ran a lot of zone-defense, which left Garcia open in the perimeter early in the game.
“I was nervous early, but that kicked through,” said Garcia, daughter of Elco Garcia and Naomi Russell. “We showed our true potential. We were prepared and came out strong.”
Ignacio was able to take advantage early off of Bayfield’s mistakes, collecting 10 steals while only committing three turnovers. Ignacio made it a goal to match Bayfield’s intensity and physical play.
“This wasn’t a surprise,” Ignacio head coach Shane Seibel said. “We’re capable of being a high-scoring team. We knew we had to match their physicality and knew we had to be aggressive defensively.”
Along with Garcia, Avionne Gomez had the hot hand pouring in 15 points while hitting two 3-point shots. Gomez also finished with four rebounds. As a team, the Bobcats narrowly outrebounded the Wolverines 20-19, but 10 of those rebounds were on the offensive side.
Bayfield brought a very high energy despite the score. The Wolverines have had a tough season but didn’t stop playing until the final buzzer went off. Amber Johnson led the Wolverines with 10 points and five rebounds.
“The effort was over the top,” Bayfield head coach Lana Killough said. “The attitude is what we’ve been talking about in practice. I saw 100 percent effort, the score doesn’t reflect that though.”
Ignacio will play Dolores at 5:30 p.m. Friday night at Ignacio High School. Bayfield will host Pagosa Springs at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Wolverine Gymnasium.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
