Friday afternoon update: Ignacio boys win the first round of regional action Friday against Hotchkiss. Next up: regional championship tomorrow against the winner of the Paonia-Soroco game. Ignacio Bobcat girls lost the first round of regional action Friday against the Meeker Bobcats, 63-47.
Way to go Bobcats!
By Joel Priest
TIMES SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Mobbed by teammates Hilda Garcia and Alejandra Lujan immediately after smashing away what could have been a game-tying three-pointer against Mancos, Ignacio's Ellie Seibel couldn't help but consider the play's ongoing impact after the Bobcats mobbed the 2A-District 3 Tournament's first-place plaque.
"Oh God, it was awesome!" said the junior forward. "It meant everything to us."
Seibel added: "But one thing that was really stressed.was you can't do this with a single person. Like, we wanted this for Sky (lone senior Cotton) but we also wanted it for us."
The Bobcats were facing the upstart Mancos team, rather than 2-seed Ridgway, who were stunned 48-43 by the Jays in the previous day's semi-final.
On Saturday's district final, the Bobcats rode Cotton's eight points to lead the Jays 12-8 after the first quarter. Mancos was all but done after freshman standout Hilda Garcia buried three treys in the second-helping increase IHS' lead to 29-18 at intermission.
"Oh it was SO big! Even from a freshman!" Ellie Seibel said of Garcia's game. "Like.it's hard to describe!"
Cotton agreed: "Hilda is huge for us, coming up on threes; we'd be struggling without her. Every one of us has a job, and we executed perfectly."
And things only got better during the third and fourth quarters in which Ignacio, again getting production from all nine in uniform, continued a growing trend of scoring. Garcia cashed in nine points (of her game-best 21) during the Bobcats' 18-point third, while freshman "sixth man" Avionne Gomez netted six (of her eight) to drive the team's 19-point fourth.
The Jays managed just 22 points during the second half, and ultimately fell, 66 to 40.
"We had trouble running through our plays; Mancos knew most of our plays, and they would switch up their defense, so we had a little jumble," said Seibel (12 points), when identifying causes for future concern. "And of course nerves coming from, like, the freshmen that we have.but that's about it!"
Silva, Valdez and Lujan each chipped in four points for Ignacio (17-4), and Baker and sophomore guard Tori Archuleta each contributed two towards securing the top prize.
"It's amazing," said Cotton, who totaled nine points. "I'm so happy.we're Number One right now!"
Advancing to Region III, the Lady 'Cats will next face District 5 champs Meeker (16-5) at 3 p.m., March 6th, at Grand Junction High School (tentative)-rather than nearby Durango High as in recent years.
Any location, however, wasn't a worrying issue for Ignacio's carefree players.
"Hilda gets to experience it, Avi gets to experience it.all our underclassmen!" Cotton said. "Me, Ellie, Chrystianne.we've experienced it and it's the sweetest taste in the world, to give them that taste."
"It's going to be a long trip, but we're going to stay focused," she continued. "We're going to celebrate tonight and then let this go-focus on playing whoever's next!"
On Feb. 27, Dolores had the unfortunate luck of playing Ignacio in the event's semifinals.
In the first quarter, Cotton canned a three-pointer for a 10-1 Ignacio advantage. But the writing was already on DHS' wall; the bracket's 1-seed led 18-6 after the frame, with Seibel booking her first five points and Garcia her opening four, and would take a 31-18 lead into halftime.
In their previous games, IHS had destroyed Dolores by 32 points and dodged them by seven during the regular season. After Garcia made a triple to start the third quarter, there was little doubting the outcome of the teams' third go-round.
Garcia finished the quarter with nine points. Junior guard Chrystianne Valdez, having recovered from a late-season concussion while also battling nagging lower-back issues, came off the bench to net 10 for the victors. Cotton and Seibel each registered eight, while starting junior guard Cortney Baker scored six (before fouling out with 5:57 remaining) as did reserve forward Gibran Silva.
On Saturday, the Ignacio-Meeker winner will then face either Cedaredge or Edwards Vail Christian. The winner will earn the right to compete in the 2A state championships to again be held inside CSU-Pueblo's Massari Arena.
"We're going to take it to whoever we've got!" stated Seibel.
