FARMINGTON-Accurate off the window from straight away to end the first half, Maddy Duran admitted afterwards that she knew the three-pointer was important, it still might not be enough Tuesday night in the Eagles' Nest.
"The three-point shot.it was just a buzzer-beater," said the Bayfield senior point guard. "I mean, the clock was counting down and I heard the crowd counting, 'Two.one!' so I just put it up there! I knew I needed to get the shot off and it happened to fall.worked in our favor!"
And when the visiting Wolverines needed them most, so did freethrows. Especially when no more triples fell, while hosting Navajo Prep's long-range accuracy rapidly improved.
Leading 20-16 through two quarters and looking ready to run away with a road win when Duran began the third driving hard for a layup, the BHS girls found themselves behind 28-26 as the final eight minutes commenced.
Sophomore forward Courtney Bayles quickly evened the score with two makes from the stripe, but after junior forward Taylor Morris sank another, NP sophomore Chantel Wagner answered with one of her own and the slow-starting game would finish very much uptempo. Skyla Ruybal's cleanup of a late Bayles miss had the contest 9-9 ending the first quarter.
For Navajo Prep, Wanger shot four three-pointers and a game-high 17 points, but she was virtually upstaged by Bayfield freshman guard Tymbree Florian. With two mid-range jumpers off the left wing and a third coming from the right all in succession, the deficit was urgently erased just before the night's most crucial sequence.
"Tym.she couldn't find her shot," Duran said. "And then in the fourth quarter.man, she found it! Navajo Prep, they had to back off and look to try and shut down Tymbree; she was on fire."
With 1:08 remaining and just about running on fumes, Duran missed two freethrows. Navajo Prep rebounded, went down the left side of the floor, and Ruybal went down upon the left side of the floor just inside the three-point arc with an injured left knee.
As the Wolverines' bench clamored for a whistle to attend to the junior, the Eagles' screamed for a shot before it-or the odd power-play opportunity-could be blown. Navajo then appeared to then hit a short shot off the glass well after play was stopped, but with neither official having good eyes on both the downed player and the attempt at the opposite side of the hoop, the basket was ruled good.
Down a regular as well as by two points with only 48 seconds left in a winnable test, Duran had seen enough. Taking matters back into her own hands, she managed to convert a three-point play 14 seconds later. Finally having found her stroke at the stripe, she'd draw a foul after a BHS defensive board at the other end and swish two more freebies with only 0:11 left.
Prep's own prayers for a desperation three then failed when freshman Taina Sandoval threw the ball into the NP cheerleaders with 0:03 left. After being quickly fouled after receiving the inbounds pass, Bayles canned one more (the second was waved off for a lane violation) and secured a 45-41 triumph.
"We had quite a bit of rust-especially in the first half and maybe a little bit in the third quarter," Duran said, alluding to the fact it was BHS' first outing in 2016 after the long holiday break. "But in the fourth quarter, all that matters is we shook it off and we pulled it out when we needed to!" She scored 10 points in the game.
Bayles finished with seven points for the victors, Morris booked five, Ruybal and junior Amber Johnson each chipped in four and sophomore Tiarra Christensen two. The Eagles were an awful 1-of-12 from the foul line while the Wolverines finished 10-of-19.
Navajo Prep fell to 4-9 (0-0 NMAA Dist. 1-3A) after a fourth straight loss. Meanwhile, Bayfield avenged its 16-point Dec. 1 loss to the Eagles and improved to 3-3 overall entering tonight's 3A Intermountain League opener versus Alamosa.
Alamosa is a shaky 2-6 overall this season. The Mean Moose took a 52-36 hammering Tuesday at non-league La Junta (9-2).
Alamosa now averages just 35.4 points per game while surrendering 45.9-hinting at a vulnerability ready to be possibly exposed inside BHS Gymnasium.
"You know, after this game I think we're absolutely ready to go into our league; I'm really looking forward to it," Duran stated. "I mean, our record's already showing that we're improving, getting better, and I'm so stoked to go into league."
CALENDAR CHECK: BHS hosts Piedra Vista Tuesday, Jan. 19, JV at 4:30 and Varsity at 6 p.m. Last Friday's postponed trip to 2A Telluride has also been rescheduled to Feb. 2.
