February 12, 2020 106 PM
PRESIDIO — After another week of strong games, the Lady Devils basketball team saw themselves tied with Crane for first.
With the main district season over, the team’s record is now 17-11 overall and 7-3 in the district. The wins started last Friday, when the Lady Devils hosted the Alpine Lady Bucks. “It was a rough first quarter,” Coach Alonzo Samaniego said of that game. The team was down 0-8. But the Devils outscored them 19-6, taking a 19-14 lead at halftime.
The lead continued in the third quarter, with a score of 36-24. The fourth quarter only saw the Lady Devils score 4 points, but “our defense was really good and the lack of scoring didn’t hurt us,” Samaniego said. The game wrapped with a score of 40-33. Among the top scorers were Alexa Baeza (13 points), Crystal Barriga (9 points) and Alexa Pando and Sofia Garcia (both 6 points).
Tuesday didn’t go as well. The Lady Devils visited Tornillo for the last district game of the season. The game was a “must-win,” Samaniego said. “We were trying to secure a share of the district championship.”
The game started strong, with the Lady Devils leading. But they didn’t manage to keep the lead, Samaniego said, citing “missed clutch free throws and unforced turnovers.” Tornillo narrowly won, 44-45. The top scorers for that game were also Alexa Baeza (15 points) and Crystal Barriga (11 points).
The loss put them in a tie for second with Kermit. The teams have a tiebreaker game this Friday at 8 p.m. at the Alpine High School gymnasium.
