Missed free throw leads to OT, loss for Mescalero

ALBUQUERQUE

The players from the Mescalero Apache girls’ basketball team did what their head coach asked during the New Mexico Class 2A championship game.

The No. 8-seeded Lady Chiefs stopped No. 3 Pecos from getting easy baskets inside the paint. More importantly, they gave themselves a chance to win the game.

But after sending the game into overtime, the Mescalero Apache girls saw their hopes of a state title slip away as Pecos pulled out a hard-fought 53-46 win.

In that extra session, Pecos scored on every possession. But the Panthers almost didn’t get that opportunity as this contest had a dramatic ending at the end of regulation.

With six seconds left and down 38-36, Mescalero Apache pushed the ball downcourt and they got the game-tying lay-up from freshman Pearl Pike just as the horn sounded.

In the process of breaking down Pecos’ defense, Pike was fouled but, with the new video replay put to use for this year’s state playoffs, the Mescalero Apache underclassman waited nearly five minutes before the officials put one-tenth of a second back on the clock.

“I think if they didn’t have the delay under review my girl would have hit that free throw,” Mescalero Apache coach Elmer Chavez said. “They froze her for (five) minutes.”

The fourth-year coach said NMAA officials should have let her shoot her free throw before looking at how much time was left on the clock.

“That was their mistake and they have to live with it,” he said of the NMAA. “They thought they were trying to do it right.”

Prior to that final sequence, the Chiefs lost junior forward Fallon Velasquez to fouls with 17 seconds left and that played a big part in the way Mescalero Apache approached OT.

“Going into OT we were kind of down because we missed a free throw to where we could have won the game,” Chavez said. “You could see the mental letdown right away. When we started we weren’t prepared to go into OT. And then they (Pecos) started going inside on us.”

The Panthers opened the extra session on a 5-0 run, which was started by an old-fashion 3-point play from Trinity Herrera.

With 2:53 left, Mescalero Apache got a much-needed bucket from sophomore Samantha Kazhe but Herrera added two more scores for a 47-40 advantage with 1:55 to go.

The Lady Chiefs had a chance to cut that margin down but they gave away a couple of offensive boards that Pecos converted at the free-throw line.

“We had a chance to cut it to three with a girl at the line and then we didn’t box out a couple of times at the free-throw line,” Chavez said. “That’s why we got beat but I thought we had the right game plan.”

Pecos coach Ron Drake said those offensive boards were huge in the extra session but he wasn’t surprised when told they had a 60 to 34 advantage in rebounding.

“It’s been like that all year,” Drake said. “I think we got out-rebounded by maybe one or two teams this year. These guys get in position and you know Faith (Flores) can jump out of the gym when she wants to so I expected them to rebound because I’ve seen it all year.”

With both teams sticking to their zone defense, it was an evenly matched game with Mescalero Apache leading 7-6 after one quarter.

At the break it was tied 18-all before Pecos took a 27-26 lead going into the fourth.

The Panthers outscored the Chiefs 11 to 10 in that third quarter but Chavez said they had a chance to pull away when they were ahead 25-20 with 5:15 left on a basket by Velasquez, who finished with 10 points.

“We started pulling away but we missed a couple of lay-ups and free throws,” he said. “We needed to make those to put them away.”

Nonetheless, he was real proud of how far his team has come.

“We had our chances and when you’re an eighth seed you have to take what you can get,” he said. “I thought we played a good game. We just didn’t finish there at the end of regulation. We missed a couple of shots down stretch that we’ve been hitting all week long.”

With no seniors on the team, Chavez said things are looking good for next season.

“I think we can be pretty good next year but we have to keep developing,” he said.

Velasquez was just as optimistic as Mescalero Apache defeated top-seed Texico and No. 4 seed Dulce to reach the championship game.

“We’re going to be super hungry. I mean we’re not losing anybody,” Velasquez said. “Everybody’s coming back and nobody even expected us to be here this year. So next year we’re going to make statement and get all the way back here.”

“We’ll be back better than ever,” junior guard Ramona Fossum added.

Fossum led Mescalero Apache with 19 points and nine rebounds while Kazhe added 13 points and 13 boards. Velasquez chipped in 10.

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