"Unflappable" at the free-throw line didn't even do Alejandra Lujan justice.
Able to gain Ignacio's girls their first lead against Rangely in last Saturday's 2A Western Regional, Pod H championship with two makes ending the first quarter, the senior guard/forward cashed all eight of her following attempts. And they were all during fourth-quarter "crunch" time, to all but lock up a place in the Class 2A State Basketball Tournament's deciding "Great Eight" this weekend.
"That's our main thing, and especially in practices, we do free throws, a lot of free throws," she said. "And I started doing it on my own, it's paid off a lot. So I'm really proud of all of us."
One successful try inside Western State Colorado University's Paul Wright Gymnasium even swished through after Lujan peeked at the scoreboard while in the motion of shooting.
"I was actually looking to see how much time we had so we could get back and play defense," she said with a grin. "I just looked up and got a quick glance, let go of it and it went in! I was so happy."
And with the Bobcat team hitting 15-of-19 from the charity stripe during the closing eight minutes, IHS pulled away from the Panthers and prevailed 47-31 to advance from the Gunnison site to the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland.
"It's going to be fun, and we're going to play our hearts out like we always do!" declared freshman forward Makayla Howell, not yet knowing CHSAA would choose the following day to pit Ignacio (16-6 overall) against defending State Champion Yuma (20-3) in Friday's opening 8:45 a.m. battle.
Under new head coach Bob Rahm, Yuma finished atop the Lower Platte Activities Association in the regular season, and more recently ousted Limon (19-4) last Saturday at Denver's Mullen High in gaining the Eastern Regional, Pod A title 43-30.
Rangely (17-7), meanwhile, had upset Western 4-seed Sanford (13-10) the previous day, 49-43, but the #7 Panthers appeared out of steam against #3 Ignacio after a Howell three-point play and two Lujan free throws put the 'Cats up 36-30.
Until separating for good, the six-point margin had been the largest for either team and last held by IHS at 30-24 ending the third quarter.
Rangely had actually dictated the early pace and raced out to a 6-1 lead in the first before junior guard Avionne Gomez made Ignacio's first field goal with 2:26 left.
Lujan then put the 'Cats up 9-8 with 0:21 left before RHS junior Katelyn Brown regained the lead with a three-ball beginning the second quarter. A strong take to the hole by freshman Morgan Herrera then tied the count at 11, and the score would still be tied at halftime, 14-14, after a scary moment in which Herrera went forehead-first into the floor fighting senior Lindzey Thacker for a rebound.
"That scared the crap out of all of us!" Howell said. "We had to pick it up after that, especially with Morgan, one of our most valuable players. But everyone's important on this team, so it scared us all and we really had to focus after that."
"I think nerves got to us a little bit," she added, also noting the unique location. "But we picked it up and realized that we had to play. We couldn't wait for them to give us the ball; we had to take it."
Panther senior Sidney Shaffer sank a three starting the second half, and sophomore Kassidee Brown followed soon after with another for a promising 20-16 lead. But with trainer Kolin Tomlinson watching her every move, Herrera countered with a spin move and hoop in the paint, and Gomez followed with consecutive threes - one from each corner - to help IHS surge ahead, 24-20.
Herrera (11 points, 3-9 FT) then fed Howell (3-5 FT) for a close-range deuce and a more stable six-point pad which Rangely ultimately could not crash.
"They're big girls, you know?" Howell said. "They put us to work down low! And the guards too, but we were excited to play them the whole time."
Gomez (6-8 FT) led all players with her 14 points. Ten-for-ten at the foul line, Lujan finished with 12, and sophomore reserve Heile Pearson came off the bench and iced the game with one last free throw.
Katelyn Brown paced the Panthers with eight points, junior reserve Halie Elam managed six and Shaffer five in defeat.
"I think if we would have had another game we could have benefited a little more, because we would be ready to take the step higher when we'd go to State," Lujan said, addressing the regional's format in which each district-tournament champion received had a "bye" for Day One. "Either way, it was good. We'd be expecting all those teams and we'd be taking a step higher - just like we're going to. We're going to have a hard week of practice and everybody's going to kick butt; I'm not going to let them slack off!"
NO 'I' IN TEAM, BUT A 'Y' IN HYPE: Now winners of five straight contests since a Valentine's Day loss at 3A Pagosa Springs (currently 18-4), Ignacio squared off yesterday against a Yuma team having won six straight since a 47-24 road loss at fellow 'Great Eight' qualifier Haxtun (19-4) back on Feb. 10.
The Yuma's other losses this winter came against G8-bound Wray (17-6) back on Dec. 10 in the finale of Goodland, Kansas' Topside Tipoff, and six days later at, ironically, Wray.
After a season-opening loss last season to 3A Sterling, Yuma finished 26-1 overall and won the State Championship inside CSU-Pueblo's Massari Arena, 55-46 over Paonia - avenging a 53-48 loss to nemesis Akron in the 2015 grand finale, a 47-35 defeat against Parker Lutheran in the '14 title game, and even a 53-36 loss to Akron in the 2013 State Championship.
Akron began their crowning run that March with a 60-37 win over IHS in the Bobcats' previous State appearance. After a subsequent loss to Mosca Sangre de Cristo, IHS finished 16-9.
