Lady Bengals surge past Academy with fourth quarter rally

GALLUP

In a sneak peek of what’s to come postseason, the Gallup Lady Bengals received a stiff test from the Albuquerque Academy Lady Chargers on Monday night.

Gallup is the defending 4A state champs, but Academy showed why they have a legitimate shot of holding that state championship trophy come March.

The Bengals won Monday’s contest 58-45 against Academy’s imposing lineup which is anchored by 6-foot-6 junior post Harper Dunn, who has garnered several college interests from across the country.

The Chargers wasted very little time to showcase their prowess by taking a 13-0 lead midway through the opening stanza behind a 3-for-3 effort from beyond the 3-point line with sophomore guard Lily Skarsgard (18 points) nailing two.

Gallup finally broke the ice when junior Laylanah Williams hit a two-point bucket with 2:52 left that spurred a 6-0 run.

“I thought at the beginning their length bothered us a little bit,” Gallup coach Todd McBroom said. “I mean, they got college-size length out there. It took us a little bit to adjust before we got some points on the board but throughout the game, we wore them down with our speed and pressure.”

Academy capped the first quarter with senior forward Addie Spratley (15 points) nailing her second trey as the Chargers took a 16-6 cushion heading into the second.

The visiting team extended the lead to 23-9 midway through the second, but the Chargers lost some momentum due to foul trouble. Five Academy players eventually fouled out, including four starters.

“When our starting five were on the court we were up by (14),” Academy coach Joshua Skarsgard said. “We proved tonight that we’re one of the best teams in the state. I’m very proud of my girls. I would love to play them with our starting five intact for an entire game.”

The Academy coach lamented on the foul count as his team was whistled for 29 fouls while Gallup was tagged with 15. Dunn was the first to foul out as she picked up two quick fouls at the start of the third. Those two infractions sent Dunn to the bench with 5:31 left.

“We made a calculated gamble to keep Harper on the floor thinking that after discussions with the referee that she can finish the game,” Skarsgard said. “We got a solid half from her, but it didn’t work out for us.”

Dunn finished with two points, but her presence on both ends of the court made it difficult for Gallup.

“She’s a great player; she draws a lot of attention in the paint and that opens shots for our guards, so she has a huge impact,” Skarsgard said. “Even when she’s not scoring, she very impactful. We missed her in the second half.”

Gallup junior guard Marie Nez drew Dunn’s last foul with a layup attempt. With the mindset to attack the rim, Nez fouled out two other Academy players as she spearheaded Gallup’s rally with a game-best 21 points, which included an 8-of-9 effort from the free throw line. Of note, all her points came in the second half.

“They’re gonna outsize everybody in 4A, and that is what it’s going to come down to,” McBroom said of Academy. “At halftime, we talked about being aggressive and getting to the foul line a little bit more and not settling for 3s. I mean, I think we were 0-14 in the first half, and we ended up shooting 17 so that is one of the things we focused on, which was really force the issue to the basket and make them make plays.”

When asked to comment on Nez’s performance, McBroom says his junior guard is capable of finishing at the rim.

“She’s a great kid and she’s quick and strong,” McBroom said. “She’s one of the strongest kids that we got in the weight room, and it really showed tonight.”

Despite Academy’s foul trouble, the Chargers took a 44-38 advantage with 7:21 left in the fourth after a basket by Spratley. Gallup, however, finished out the game on a 20-3 run as they got to the free throw line 13 times while making nine.

For the game, the Bengals connected on 23-of-29 free throws. Junior guard Mykeia Vicenti nailed 7-of-8 from the charity line as she finished with 11. The Bengals also received 13 points from junior post Kayden Tsosie on 3-of-4 free throws.

“We finally decided after the first quarter to start attacking the rim,” McBroom said of his team’s ability to get to the free throw line.

“That was kind of the big thing we wanted,” he said. “You can’t let their bigs just sit back and contest shots the whole time because it’s hard to shoot over people who are that tall. We had to make it an issue to where we told the girls we need penetration, and we want them to go to the hole and so it worked out.”

With the 13-point win, Gallup improves to 3-0 as they open the John Lomasney Invitational with Ganado on Thursday.

“We got our hands full with Ganado and they’re a scrappy group,” McBroom said. “We got to show up and play because it’s not a gimme game. We got to show up and get after them.”

The top half of the bracket has Pojoaque Valley facing Rio Rancho at 1 p.m. while Tohatchi will play Show Low at 6 p.m. In the bottom half, Piedra Vista plays Silver at 2:30 p.m. and Gallup will play the final game at 7:30 p.m.

The championship game is slated for 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

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