Hoehne made long drive to Ignacio and put a scare into the Bobcats in the first half. But the mighty Ignacio High School girls basketball team refused to be pushed around in the second half.
Behind a game-high 19 points from Charlize Valdez and a stifling defense that held the visiting No. 21 Farmers to five made field goals in the second half, the No. 12 Bobcats claimed a 48-32 victory in the opening round of the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 2A Girls Basketball State Tournament.
“We wanted to play really steady and consistent with everything we did,” IHS head coach Justa Whitt said. “Our defense worked well. We were trying something a little new because we’ve been struggling not having enough break time during games and not wanting our top girls to get worn down too fast. They did well with it tonight.”
2021 CHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournaments Class 2AIHS (10-4) advanced to the Sweet 16 with the win and will travel to face No. 5 Rocky Ford (11-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Class 2A state format changed this year with no district and regional playoff tournaments with 24 teams seeded into a bracket. The top-eight teams received a bye.
“We’re in the state tournament, it’s just not the traditional way we do it,” Whitt said. “But I’m not minding this format at all. It’s a bit tough on the travel part, but it’s kind of fun to go from one game to the next. At this point, you just have to win to stay in.”
The Bobcats led 22-20 at halftime Tuesday after Jayden Brunson hit three free throws with 1.4 seconds to play in the second quarter. It erased a brief 20-19 Hoehne lead, as Ronni San Roman hit two 3-point shots from the corner and Jessica Sakariason hit another 3 to help the Farmers erase an 18-8 deficit to take a lead.
Valdez made four of Ignacio’s six 3-pointers in the game.
“It was great to see her have a great game,” Whitt said of Valdez. “She had been a little off for awhile. It was nice to see her have a nice strong game. And for all of our senior girls, in their last game on Ignacio’s home court, it was really good.”
The Bobcats did not allow the Farmers a made a 3 in the entire second half.
“We knew we had to shut down the girls who had made shots from the outside,” Whitt said of her team’s second-half defense. “We talked about making sure they were covered. Our girls stepped up and played great, solid defense and paid attention to their fouls.”
IHS finished 14-of-22 at the foul line after it started 7-of-11 in the first half. The Bobcats had Shelcie Gosney and Laci Brunson each with three personal fouls in the first half, but they avoided second-half foul trouble and only allowed Hoehne to shoot six free throws the entire game, of which they made half.
Jayden Brunson finished with 12 points with nine in the first half. Gosney finished with eight, while Laci Brunson scored seven.
“You know, last week we had a rough couple games, and I think coming into this we knew we still had a chance to make it as far as we could,” Jayden Brunson said. “We just left everything we had out on the court. We were all over them on defense, and we were executing our offense as well as we could – we were just playing like we know how.”
San Roman finished with 14 points to lead the Farmers (8-7), while Sakariason had seven after she scored five in the first half.
The Bobcats will have their hands full with the Meloneers on Thursday night. Battle tested as the second-place finisher in the 2A Santa Fe League behind No. 4 Rye (13-1, 8-0 SFL), Rocky Ford is senior-heavy with Abi Snyder leading the way with 18.6 points per game to go with 5.8 rebounds and 4.8 steals per game. IHS also will have to deal with Lily Hancock, who has averaged 5.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocked shots per game.
The two teams met last year in the 2A Region 8 championship game at Ignacio. The Bobcats won that day 43-28.
“(Snyder) is a fantastic player,” Whitt said. “Last year as a junior, she scored her 1,000th career point against us. We know she’s tough. But the focus for our girls is to just play our game and do what we do. It doesn’t matter what the other team does. We will adjust and work with whatever is going on.
“If our girls play hard and put their heart into it, then win or lose, we’re winners in the end.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
