Performed by the Bayfield High School Basketball Band, an early-game rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" was more a friendly jab at one of their own band members, suited up for the night in a basketball uniform.
The second serenade, however, reminded everyone whose night it was.
After she had reminded her teammates of a similar night, that is.
"I'm going to tell you a story: Middle school, my seventh-grade year, we played Pagosa and it was my birthday," junior Savannah Kaufmann recalled. "And we were down by, like, two points and I was at the free-throw line. Two seconds left, and I made both, went into overtime. Kyle Baker hit a buzzer shot and we won the game!"
"So beginning of this game, I told the girls, 'Let's just go back to that time, where we had SO much fun playing basketball, where we had so much intensity!' And they gave me more than that; this is a game I will never forget, and it was so great to have that intensity throughout the whole team."
Having scored the first basket inside BHS Gymnasium Tuesday evening and energized the girls out to a 13-7 lead after one quarter, Kaufmann then keyed the crew's press-based, fourth-quarter comeback against Montezuma-Cortez as Bayfield bagged a long-awaited 3A Intermountain League win, 52-47.
"The fourth quarter, we came back from being behind, like, 11, and I was just proud of them because they showed gumption," Head Coach Lana Killough said. "And I've said a lot of times, they're the ones that go out there and do the game plan or not, so it's all them! They just took care of business. I don't know how else to say it; they just took care of business."
"It's a huge confidence-builder," said Baker, now a senior. "We've been waiting for another win after Sargent last Tuesday, and that was really exciting. But now that it's a league game, this is just really fun!"
Kaufmann added: "We knew that this was most important; we were going to cover each other's backs. If we were hitting airballs, we were going to be there for the backside rebound, layup. If we weren't having good passes, we were going to recover it on defense. We really had our backs tonight."
Especially when those backs were most assuredly against the proverbial wall.
Down 32-23 after the third quarter, BHS fell even further off the Panthers' pace as M-CHS sophomore Courtney Cashner and freshman Myra Simmons put up a fast five points in the fourth, building the visitors' lead up to a 14-point maximum despite Coach John McHenry having sent in his reserves for a good while.
"Personally, that frustrated me to think that they were so far ahead, dominating, that they were putting their second-, third-stringers in there," Kaufmann said. "So we made them regret that choice pretty quick, I think."
"They had a good press-break, and with the fouls and everything we had to really just pull together and play good defense," Baker said. "Just go out there and work hard without making slacking mistakes and stuff."
Two Tiarra Christensen free throws soon had Bayfield (5-10, 1-5 IML) back to 43-37, and soon after, a Kaufmann steal led to a corner three-pointer by senior Chloe Weybright. That cut Montezuma-Cortez's lead down to 45-43. Closing in for the kill, Weybright's next three failed to draw rim, but landed untouched in the hands of junior Courtney Bayles for an easy cleanup, trimming the guests' advantage down to 47-46.
Seconds later, with the Panthers (1-14, 0-6) unable to get near midcourt, Kaufmann came up with a steal and go-ahead layup to an explosion of applause. Another M-CHS inbounds attempt failed, and after a Dimery Plewe foul, Kaufmann capitalized with a free throw.
"I love the press; we knew that it really mattered," she stated. "It took us a few moments to re-collect ourselves, but once we did we really figured out their press-break. It really frustrated the other team, I think."
"It definitely did," agreed Baker. "We've been practicing mostly a lot of defense, and I think that's what's kept us in the games lately. Free throws definitely kept us on the edge of our seat, but it was a good turnout."
With 0:26.1 remaining, Kaufmann sank two more charity tosses, and after Baker's over-the-shoulder interception of a lob pass through midcourt-drawing another clock-stopping foul in the process-Baker sank one of two tries from the stripe for what would hold as the final margin of victory.
"This is their first league game in three years, so that's big for them," Killough said. "It was awesome."
Simmons led the Panthers with 14 points. Sophomore Aryelle Wright, a transfer this year from 2A Dolores, logged nine and Cashner seven. Plewe finished with five points before fouling out with 0:12.9 remaining.
Bayfield senior Taylor Morris posted six of her nine points during the furious fourth, in which BHS outscored M-CHS 29-15, while Weybright sank two treys and totaled all her seven. Joining Morris, Kaufmann and Weybright in finishing with four fouls, Bayles registered 10 points. Baker booked eight, Christensen four and Skyla Ruybal one, but Kaufmann led the way-with 13 points and a whole lot more.
"She had a double-double tonight - 11 steals and 13 points - and she missed a triple-double by three rebounds," said Killough. "She had a good night."
"They gave me the best birthday present I could ask for," Kaufmann said.
Up next, BHS hosts Monte Vista (8-6, 3-3) at 5:30 p.m. Friday, looking to avenge a 53-42 loss out in the San Luis Valley. M-CHS will travel east Friday to visit powerhouse Centauri (14-1, 6-0).
"We didn't have a lot of energy. That was our problem," said Kaufmann of the Jan. 15 defeat at MVHS. "So we've been focusing ever since. We're going to focus this energy from tonight, bring it to Friday."
"We're going to work on our press, work on some holes. But I think they can compete against Monte Vista really well," echoed Killough. "I'm excited."
