Rehoboth girls hit reset button, improve to 2-1 in district play

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Feb 4, 2025 | Sports |

REHOBOTH, N.M. – In the grand scheme of things, the Rehoboth Christian girls basketball team needed to hit the reset button.

The Lady Lynx (7-12) were coming off a six-game losing streak entering last Friday’s district game with the Dulce Lady Hawks.

Despite a fourth-quarter rally from Dulce, Rehoboth stayed ahead to post a much-needed 48-43 win.

“Our girls have been through a lot this season, and sometimes it’s hard for young athletes to reset mentally,” longtime Rehoboth coach Adrian Pete said. “I think, naturally, players tend to get unmotivated at times when you lose six in a row, so our goal was to come out and reset, and just play hard and have fun.

“I think we did that tonight, so this was a good win for us,” he added.

The momentum from Friday night’s game carried over into Saturday’s contest as Rehoboth defeated Navajo Pine, 42-28, and improved to 2-1 in District 1-2A play.

In Friday’s game, the Lynx were led by senior CJ Mariano as she finished with 19 points that included three treys. Junior Aunika Becenti added 11 and two treys.

“Aunika has been through a lot,” Pete said. “Last year, she missed 80% of her season because of a knee injury and so this year she’s been really growing.

“She puts a lot on herself and, you know, I’m just proud of her because she’s just really trying to get better individually and being more of a leader,” he added. “She’s still growing, and we have one more year left with her, so I’m excited.”

In the opening half, Mariano kept Rehoboth afloat as she put up 13 points. Her 3-pointer at the 1:17 mark in the second period earned the Lynx a 23-18 cushion, a lead Rehoboth took into a halftime.

The Pete-coached team then worked its advantage to 29-18 midway through the third period with Becenti scoring a pair buckets during that stretch.

“The third quarter is where you gotta come out, right?” Pete said. “Either you gonna play well, or you’re not gonna play well. So in the third quarter I told them to finish strong because the game is not over yet.

“We had to fix the things that we needed to fix like rebounding, taking care of the ball and even attacking. We had to pass up some good shots for a great shot.”

Rehoboth maintained that double-digit cushion for most of the second half, but the visiting Hawks put together a late run behind the play of senior Aaryonna Vigil.

The Dulce guard scored 14 of her game-best 25 points in that final quarter, which included the last 10 points. Vigil’s fifth trey brought the Hawks within 46-40 with 1:03 left in the contest.

“One turnover and, boom, they made a run on us,” Pete said. “They can hit from the 3s, so we had to be smart there at the end and show some poise to close out the game.”

The Lynx will resume district play tonight as they will make the short drive to Hózhó Academy (10-9) in key district showdown as the Lady Wolves upset Laguna Acoma, 41-38, on Saturday afternoon.

Laguna Acoma leads the district with a 3-1 record followed by the 2-1 marks from Hózhó Academy, Ramah and Rehoboth.

“You know, Laguna is tough,” Pete said. “After that, I think it’s a mix with the rest of the district, so it’s going to be close. Our goals is to get that second or third seed come district tournament.

“We just have to stay consistent,” he added.