Crownpoint girls overcome jitters in playoff win over Tularosa

CROWNPOINT

The Crownpoint girls basketball team had to work through some early nerves to get past the Tularosa Lady Wildcats in the opening round of the New Mexico Class 3A playoffs on Friday night.

The sixth-seeded Lady Eagles (22-7) advanced with a 52-39 win over No. 11 Tularosa (16-13) at Crownpoint High School after holding a one-point lead at halftime.

“I think the girls finally just worked through their nerves,” Crownpoint coach Byron Murphy said. “They just came out nervous and they played that first half nervous. After halftime, they were able to settle down, regroup and they came out strong and got the nerves behind them.”

At the break, Crownpoint led 26-25 as the Wildcats kept pace by scoring a few buckets in transition. But a defensive shift paid dividends for the Eagles as they went from man-to-man to a half-court zone defense.

“We pulled back our press,” Murphy said. “We made that adjustment to make sure we had our players getting back and setting our defense up to stop them because they were beating us down the floor.”

It did not help that Crownpoint senior guard Courtney Craig picked up two fouls in the opening period. In the second quarter, she picked up her third at the 7:31 mark and was sent to the bench for the rest of the half.

“When we were getting beat on defense, she was the one that ended up having to help,” Murphy said. “That is where she got into foul trouble and that played a big part.”

After the break, Craig did not pick up another foul and scored eight of her game-best 22 points in the third quarter, which included a pair of and-ones.

“It got pretty intense getting those three fouls, so I tried not to reach in to get that fourth foul,” said Craig, who added that her defensive intensity usually drops after drawing four infractions.

“I’ll start to get nervous, and that is when I start to not play defense right,” she said.

Senior guard Kathryn Francisco opened the third with a basket, and that was followed by an old-fashioned three-point play from Craig for a 31-25 cushion.

At the other end, Tularosa’s Sunshine Evans drove the lane and scored on a jump shot, but the Eagles responded with a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Holly Jiron, who finished with six points.

The Wildcats got within 34-29 with a basket from sophomore Veronica Blazer. Crownpoint, however, answered with a basket from Francisco before Craig scored five points for a 42-31 cushion with 1:44 left in the third quarter.

“I was just in a flow,” Craig said of her scoring output. “I just focused on my shot and shoot what I can.”

With both teams trading baskets, Crownpoint led 46-35 going into the fourth.

“We wanted to start strong in the second half because the first half it was a little too close for comfort,” said Francisco, who finished with 11 points. “We knew we had to get away and so in the second half we wanted to show them who we are as a team and show them why we’re here.”

In the next round, Crownpoint will square off against No. 3 seed Robertson (22-8) in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, with tipoff scheduled for 1:15 p.m. at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

On Friday, Robertson beat district rival West Las Vegas (11-17) 47-25 to reach the quarterfinals. Since losing three straight games to 4A opponents to start the new year, Robertson has won 16 of its last 18 games, with both losses coming against No. 2 seed Santa Fe Indian.

During that stretch, the Cardinals went 2-2 against SFIS, including a 43-40 win in the District 2-3A championship game on Feb. 27.

“I know they had some close matchups with Santa Fe Indian,” Murphy said of Robertson. “We’ve watched a lot of game film on them and we’re developing a game plan. I know their guards are quick and that is what we’re going to have to adjust to.”

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