Foul outcome for Lady Longhorns

BERNALILLO - Fouls and foul shots spelled doom for the Lady Longhorns in the semis.

Fort Sumner-House made 11 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter as three Logan starters rode the bench due to foul trouble during a 37-30 comeback victory Friday for the Vixens in the Class 1A girls basketball semifinals at Spartan Gym.

Second-seeded Fort Sumner-House (21-4) went on to capture the state title by soundly defeating district rival and fourth-seeded Melrose 56-30 on Saturday at The Pit in Albuquerque. It was the seventh girls basketball state title for the Vixens.

Third-seeded Logan (23-7) went 5-for-12 from the free-throw line Friday. The Lady Longhorns split four games with the Vixens during the season.

Logan had a five-point lead early the fourth quarter, but their fortunes began to go south when Fort Sumner-House went on a 9-2 run to retake the lead.

The Lady Longhorns' chances for a late comeback dwindled more when senior center Rilee Nials - who led the team with 14 points - and senior point guard Kyra Conway each fouled out. The other senior guard, Reece Goldston, also spent time on the bench in the second half with four fouls.

"We had starters sitting on the bench in the second half, and our shots weren't falling," Logan coach Glynna Strand summarized her team's second-half woes.

"I think a lot of the fouls were in open court and (the referees) were seeing those and not seeing the ones under the basket," she added. "We tend to have some retaliation fouls that get us in trouble."

"It wasn't part of the game plan to get their top starters in foul trouble, but it just happened to work out that way," Vixens coach Ben Segura said. "These girls are a pretty resilient bunch, and they took advantage of it."

Avery Cavett, the only player from House in its sports co-op with Fort Sumner, led the Vixens with 15 points and 10 rebounds. She also went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. (See other story in this edition about Cavett.)

"We made plays when we needed to make them," Segura said. "We had our backs against the wall. We found a way to score and had stops when we needed stops, and made free throws."

Fort Sumner-House held a lead for much of the first half, including an eight-point advantage at one point.

The Lady Longhorns stormed back with 11 unanswered points in the second quarter, punctuated by a Goldston 3-point shot and Nials' inside bucket just before the halftime buzzer for a 20-17 Logan lead. Nials punched the air in celebration after her score.

Segura told his team not to get rattled by Logan's surge.

"We talked all week that (Logan) has a lot of pride in what they do, they're well coached and they play hard," he said. "There's a reason there's three teams from our district in the semifinals. We just had to keep grinding."

Strand said it would be tough to replace seniors Conway, Goldston and Nials, and not just because they often were leading scorers this season.

"We're going to be super-young next year; we have no juniors. It's going to be sophomores who take over," she said. "They're going to be missed; they were huge for our team."

Logan 47, Roy-Mosquero 37

The Lady Longhorns drained nine 3-point shots to stake an early lead and stave off a second-half comeback attempt by the Lady Blue during a 47-37 Logan victory in the Class 1A quarterfinals on March 8.

"We'd been waiting to have a game like this with the threes," Strand said. "We kept saying it was going to happen, and thank goodness it did tonight."

"They definitely were hot tonight," Roy-Mosquero coach Blair Clavel said, "but we didn't get a hand in their face like we should and weren't helping much (defensively)."

Goldston did most of the damage against the defending Class 1A champion and sixth-seeded Roy-Mosquero (23-6), scoring a game-high 26 points. She made five 3-pointers and scored more points on slashing moves to the hoop during her final home game at Logan.

Conway, also a senior, added nine points for the Lady Longhorns despite being knocked down painfully at least five times, including a dive into the bleachers.

"We just hope to get her through the game in one piece," Strand said.

Nora Crisp led Roy-Mosquero with 12 points. The Lady Blue suffered three of its six losses this season to the Lady Longhorns.

"We got flustered and kind of played all night to lose instead of win," Clavel said. "Momentum wins the game sometimes, and we didn't have much momentum."

Logan stretched a three-point advantage to a double-digit lead in the second quarter with a 13-3 run. Goldston and Conway combined for 10 points during the rally.

Strand cautioned her team during halftime to not led its guard down.

"I told them we couldn't have a bad third quarter," she said. "Sometimes we struggle in the third quarter for some reason and come out kind of cold. We had a little bit of a letdown, but not too bad."

Roy-Mosquero opened the third period with nine unanswered points to close the gap to 28-25. At the point where it appeared the Lady Blue might seize momentum for good, Conway and Goldston sank back-to-back 3-pointers. Hailee Robertson also made a 3-pointer late in the period for a 38-32 Logan lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, Goldston made another 3-pointer and Desta Rose sank a short jumper to return Logan tp a double-digit lead. Logan then used a patient offense to burn the clock.

Logan made its victory tougher by going only 6-of-18 from the free throw line.

The game was one of the most raucous in recent memory at Logan. Fans of the Lady Blue brought inflatable thundersticks and drums; the Logan student section pounded on five-gallon buckets.