To’hajiilee girls exceed coach’s expectations with semifinal appearance

RIO RANCHO, N.M.

A third quarter push by top-seeded Logan Lady Longhorns put the To’hajiilee girls in a bind.

Logan outscored the Lady Warriors 18 to 2 enroute to a 52-33 win during Thursday night’s New Mexico Class 1A state semifinals at the Rio Rancho Events Center as To’hajiilee came up one game short of playing in the state title game.

“We just let it slip away from us,” To’hajiilee coach Alex Apachito said. “I think the inexperience and the turnovers just got to us. We lost it in the third and we couldn’t recover.”

To’hajiilee finished the contest with 29 turnovers and a handful of them were self-inflicted. It also didn’t help that junior post Victoria Apachito received her third foul in the opening quarter as she sat out for a good part of the second quarter.

“I wouldn’t say that they were fouls, I would say they were jump balls,” Victoria said of the infractions she had. “I can’t argue with the refs, and I have to let them do their jobs, but it’s really hard for me to be on the bench.

“I know my team really needs me and I try to be there every second of the game,” she added. “I tried to stay positive for my team.”

Logan coach Dustin Robertson said having Victoria Apachito on the bench made it a lot easier for them.

“She’s a heck of a player and she’s hard to defend,” Robertson said. “I mean, she finds open teammates and when she catches it in the low post, you can count two on the board for them.”

Despite Victoria Apachito’s early foul trouble, To’hajiilee stayed within striking distance, trailing 17-11 after one quarter of play. The Warriors lagged behind at 29-20 at the break.

After trading scores to start the third stanza, Logan scored 17 straight points and put the game out of reach as the eventual state champs opened a 47-21 cushion heading into the fourth.

“We’ve talked about stretching a lead out all season,” Richardson said. “We haven’t done it very well, but I thought our defense was very intense. We were talking and communicating like we do in practice, and it just carried over tonight.

“You know, we were getting a few turnovers and we were making free throws,” he added.

Logan was led by senior guard Desta Rose, who poured in a game-best 27 points on 11 of 22 shooting, including 3 of 9 effort from the 3-point line.

“She was good,” Alex Apachito said. “Very different from game film. She’s scored on us, and we couldn’t stop her. I tried everything (from) box-and-one, and I put our best defender on her. She’s really good, very talented.”

For To’hajiilee, Victoria Apachito Victoria finished with 11 points and 10 boards while Tatum Wilson added nine and seven rebounds.

“I really couldn’t get through their defense,” Wilson said of the team’s struggles. “I don’t really get pressured a lot, but they played really good defense on me. They had a man on me, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I tried to help me team.”

The fifth-seeded Warriors reached the semifinals with a 65-61 win over No. 12 Dora, and they followed that up by upending No. 4 Fort Sumner/Dora 58-54 in the state quarterfinals.

“I told the girls at the beginning of the season, I’m not going to be satisfied with just making it to state,” Alex Apachito said. “I wanted to go farther. Realistically, these girls did exceed the dreams and goals that we had set forth.”

In the opening round, the To’hajiilee coach said Dora gave them everything they could handle as they escaped with a four-point win.

“They were a tough team and the gave it to us at home,” Alex Apachito said. “We ended up pulling it out.”

In the next round, the Warriors eked out another four-point win, this time to Fort Sumner/Dora.

“We lost to Fort Sumner earlier in the season,” Alex Apachito said. “We kind of knew what they were going to run, but my girls just pulled through. They have that never quit attitude that I love.”

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