Magdalena boys and girls advance to state hoops

The opening round of the New Mexico high school state tournament pretty much went as scripted Friday and Saturday, with both the Magdalena boys and girls advancing with solid victory margins, and the Alamo Navajo boys putting up a strong effort before succumbing.

The Steers played their quarterfinals games back-to-back Wednesday night at Bernalillo High School.

BOYS

No. 4 MAGDALENA 58, No. 13 QUEMADO 47

After handily beating the Eagles (14-14) during the regular season, it would have been understandable for the Steers (24-5) to overlook them in the state tournament.

And for a few moments, that may have been the case as Quemado came out strong.

“Quemado came and played really aggressive,” Magdalena coach Jory Mirabal said. “We didn’t match their intensity to start the game, but it turned into a little bit of a dog fight.”

Still, given the tough matchups coming, it was a beneficial way to start the tournament, he said.

“It probably made us a little better in the long run so I thought it was a very good game for us,” Mirabal said. “They were really aggressive against our pressure and got some good looks out of it and that frustrated us in the beginning. And we weren’t hitting shots that we normally make so we were getting frustrated offensively.”

And that made things difficult as the Steers trailed 12-5 after the first quarter.

“You can’t play very well when you’re frustrated,” he said.

But, as typically happens for good teams, some strong defensive work turned things around.

“In those situations, defense gets you back in the game,” Mirabal said. “We started to get some stops. Once we started to get some stops, our offense came around. We had some key subs come in and play some defensive minutes.”

In particular, Ky Stephens and Shane Montoya helped turn the momentum.

“They gave us a lot of key moments,” Mirabal said. “Right when we needed some defense, they stepped up. We don’t rely on them for offense, but they did their job defensively.”

Between them, they had four steals and combined for seven big offensive rebounds.

And then there was the effort that Joseph Zamora turned in. He chugged down 32 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, half of those on the offensive glass and added four steals for good measure.

“When everybody was struggling, we jumped on his back,” Mirabal said. “When you have a kid that can take control, it’s really nice to have him step in.”

Jacob Markland also had a strong game with 13 points and four assists.

The Steers next faced fifth-seeded Roy/Mosquero, but they were better prepared after this opening game test.

“When you’re in a game like this and you have to be intense all the way through in the first round, it’s good,” the coach said. “When you beat a team by 20-30 points, it can cause inflation of egos for the next round. But, anybody can beat anybody on any given night so, just as a program, we have to take each one of those games for what it is and get after it.”

No. 6 CIMARRON 80, No. 11 ALAMO NAVAJO 62

The Cougars (21-8) put up plenty of points against the Rams (22-7), but came up short on the defensive end. Additional information about the game was unavailable at presstime.

GIRLS

No. 5 MAGDLAENA 69, No. 12 ELIDA 40

A slow start didn’t bother Steers coach Sara Sue Olney too much.

“I wasn’t too concerned when we started like that,” she said. “I knew we were taking good shots. Once we all settled down and got into the groove we would be okay.”

So when trailing 6-1 early, Olney called a timeout to just remind her squad what they needed to do.

“I told them to stay relaxed,” she said. “It’s all going to pan out the way it’s supposed to. Keep up the pressure and keep shooting the shots, They’ll fall.”

Did it work for Magdalena (23-6) against the Tigers (17-13)?

Well, a 20-0 run to close the quarter certainly turned things around.

“We got three steals in row and things fell into place after that,” Olney said. “That’s usually how we get going. We realized we could take them off the dribble and get to the basket, but we hit a lot of outside shots, as well. We were shooting really well for the game.”

Jema Ganadonegro led the way with 26 points. Jorianne Mirabal added 18 and Elia Cleveland chipped in 14.

“When my big three are shooting well, we do really well,” Olney said of the trio. “When they first start to play us, they’re focused on Jema, then Elia or Jorianne will start hitting. It’s kind of hard to stop all three of them at the same time. At some point, one of those three is going to have a defender that is half a step slow, or not as big or doesn’t understand what they can do.”

And then watch out as the points pile up.

Up next, the Steers faced a familiar foe in District 2-1A rival Quemado, which beat the Steers two out but a game like this one gives Magdalena a boost, Olney said.

“It gives us a little bit of confidence,” she said. The shooting part of it was really good for us, but we have to get after it from the beginning no matter what. We had such a good start heading into the next round.”