Outscored 17-2 during the first half of the third quarter Thursday evening and trailing 39-11 in Ignacio, there wasn’t much hope left for the Bayfield Wolverines girls basketball team.
But there was still enough hope for Kimball Anderson, as she kept fighting until the buzzer as the Bobcats beat the Wolverines, 50-36.
Mounting an inspiring counteroffensive, the junior guard suddenly splashed not one or two, but three 3-pointers – all assisted by sophomore guard Kieley White Thunder – in swift succession, then added a difficult running 2-pointer through baseline traffic with 15.5 seconds left for a seemingly instant 11 points.
Anderson then dropped in BHS’ first two points of the fourth quarter, but moments later was lost to a right ankle injury. Despite not playing for the final 7:24 of regulation, Anderson still totaled a game-high 14 points and grabbed no fewer than five boards.
But in the end, the Bobcats’ 43-24 advantage at the end of the third quarter proved too much to overcome and powered by senior guard Alyssa Atencio’s 13 points and junior guard/forward Aubree Lucero’s 12.
“The first and second quarters were great,” said IHS head coach Travis Nanaeto. “We just kind of slumped and let that one girl score all those points, and we didn’t work the ball as much as I’d like – you know, just work the ball, work the clock, run through our plays. But we played pretty good.”
Two free throws by senior guard/forward Juliann Avila gave Ignacio (3-9 overall, 1-1 3A/4A Intermountain) a 5-3 edge with 1:29 left in a slow-paced first quarter, but Atencio’s right-wing triple 24 ticks later hinted at the offense to come. Up 8-3 after the opening eight minutes, the ’Cats upped their lead to 13-5 with 5:05 left in the second quarter via Lucero’s first three-ball.
Bayfield (3-9, 0-3 IML) managed to claw back to 14-9, via two FTs by sophomore forward Grace Brown with 3:05 remaining, but IHS freshman Justina Jessepe answered with a three, assisted by Atencio, and Lucero followed soon after with her second trey.
Almost completely stifled during the first half, White Thunder then swished a much-needed three with 1:23 to go, but was whistled for traveling while setting her feet to shoot, and IHS junior center/forward Catori Aasland closed out the half with a close-range bucket set up by junior guard Maliyah Martinez.
Canceling out a White Thunder basket early in the third quarter, Ignacio’s 22-9 halftime lead grew to 26-11 after Atencio converted a steal into a breakaway layup and Avila cleaned up an offensive rebound for another easy deuce. Jessepe then received a cross-court pass from Avila and drained her second 3-pointer, and Atencio converted a Brown foul into an ‘and-one’ 3-point play, increasing the Bobcats’ lead to 32-11 with 5:32 still left in the third.
“Our defense, communication on the court … we didn’t really have that much,” said Lucero, who totaled three of IHS’ seven treys. “But we’re improving, and we’re a lot better than we were.”
White Thunder managed to tally 10 points and at least as many boards in defeat.
Building upon their 51-31 loss on Tuesday at 2A Mancos, the Wolverines were to continue IML work Friday evening at Monte Vista (6-3, 0-1). After beating Dolores, 39-33, on Tuesday, the Bobcats were to head to La Jara and visit Centauri (8-3, 2-0) on Friday. Both results were unavailable at press time.
