By Eric Butler
MaxPreps.com
Basketball: La Cueva Grabs Girls 5A Crown
Sometimes it's not that easy being a star athlete at a school like La Cueva. While senior Brenna Freeze has seen multiple Bears' squads get state titles in her time at the Albuquerque school, the teams she's been on haven't been part of the party.
Up until Saturday (Mar. 15), that is.
"I was on the two teams that hadn't won one. We didn't win it in volleyball, but we got it for basketball," said Freeze, who will play at the University of Wyoming next year and scored 12 points in La Cueva's 49-44 victory over Eldorado in the Class 5A final.
"It feels awesome," she added.
Eldorado (24-7) got off to a 26-19 halftime lead as the Eagles tried to claim their first title since 1995. But La Cueva (28-2), the top-seeded team in the 5A field, gradually cut into the advantage after intermission.
With 2:34 remaining, the Bears seized the lead for good when freshman Jamie Parker sunk a three-pointer to put La Cueva up 45-44.
Parker missed her other eight attempts from the floor but got the big one.
"I was nervous. I was shaking the whole, entire game," Parker said.
A major part of the Bears' comeback effort came when they matched the defensive effort of Eldorado.
Erika Baca, a La Cueva sophomore, had the chore of guarding the Eagles' 5-foot-2, but extremely effective, guard Kya De Garmo.
"Coach (Greg Berger) said to get into her pocket and do whatever I could," Baca said. "She's so small. I felt when I bent down I was sitting on the floor."
The Class 4A championship was staged on Friday (Mar. 14) night and between the top two seeds in the tournament.
St. Pius (28-2) won its second title in the past three years with a 57-48 victory over Kirtland Central (27-4) which was seeking its 18th state championship.
The Sartans were led by Audrey Detwiller's 17 points while Courtney Tinnin and Mary Rose Paiz added 16 and 14 points respectively.
For the Broncos, the runner-up trophy culminated a season in which the team was led by its third head coach in three years. Ron Mayberry was the Kirtland coach in 2006-07 when the Broncs finished second in 4A to Aztec.
KC's head man this time was Charles Kromer, whose team was usually led by ultra-quick guard Dayon Hall-Jones.
But Hall-Jones was plagued by flu symptoms in the team's last two games and scored 10 points in the championship game.
In the Class 3A title contest, Pojoaque Valley took a rematch between district members when the Elkettes knocked off top-seeded St. Michael's, 46-39.
Pojoaque Valley (26-5) got 15 points from Andrea Cruz in the victory. Cruz and younger sister Ellen Cruz were transfers this season from Penasco – where they were part of the Panthers' state runner-up team in Class 2A last year.
"Last year, when we lost it really hit," said Andrea Cruz, fighting off tears in a postgame press conference. "This feels good."
St. Michael's (25-6) received 11 points apiece from Marissa Peterson and Kayla Herrera.
Besides the Cruz sisters, Pojoaque did have championship contest experience from another source in Janelle Roybal, who finished with 14 points and was part of the Elkettes' volleyball 3A title squad.
"I never played in a state basketball championship before, but I had been in two volleyball state championships," Roybal said. "I just told myself, 'You've been here before, you know what to do – you just have to do it.'"
The only defending champion to successfully defend its 2007 title was Texico (28-2) in Class 2A. The Wolverines knocked off Navajo Prep (22-7) by a 55-45 count in the finale on Friday.
For perhaps the first time in state tournament history, Texico's title came without the head coach anywhere in sight.
Keith Durham, Texico's coach, was forced to miss the title game in Albuquerque after drawing two technicals in the semifinal round on Thursday. Instead, he sat in alone in an office at The Pit and said he spent the time reading a Bible and praying.
"I didn't watch the game. They told me I could, but I didn't want to," said Durham, who got updates via his cell phone. "The best call came from coach (Clay) Stout, my former assistant. He said, 'There's 47 seconds left, you're up nine. Congratulations, coach.'"
"Mario Martinez, from the New Mexico Activities Association, came and got me and escorted me to the ramp," Durham added. "He said as soon as it was over we were going down."
Brooke Bailey finished with 16 points, while sophomore Katlin Luscombe had 14 and senior Faith Martin added 10 for the Wolverines. Navajo Prep, trying to claim its first championship since 1999, was led by Nicole Crisp's 16 points and seven rebounds.
In the Class 1A finale, Animas (22-7) knocked off Magdalena (26-6) in a matchup of the fifth and sixth seed of the tournament. The Panthers were led by Jaci Hatch's 25 points in the 49-38 victory. In the semifinals, Animas stunned district rival Cliff – a team the Panthers had lost to six times previously during the season.
