SMS Lady Braves lose heartbreaker at home

The Socorro Middle School Lady Braves hosted the Hatch Valley Lady Bears at the high school gym on Thursday, Nov. 20, for their third set of games for the season.

The Lady Braves seventh graders started out at 5 p.m. They held it to a pretty close 13-8 score in the first half. Then the Lady Braves slipped behind a bit more in the second half and ended up losing 23-13. The SMS seventh graders fall to 0-3 on the season, with losses this week to Los Lunas on the road and Pojoaque at home.

The seventh graders were fairly competitive in one half of each of the home games, so they just need to build up some stamina and consistency to keep it going throughout the game. Once some more of their shots start falling in, then they will find some wins this season.

The Lady Braves eighth graders played next. An early mistake gave the Lady Bears two points right away. The Lady Braves kept it close early on, then fell behind 12-4 before battling back. They were down 13-11 at halftime.

Socorro tied it up at 13-13 early in the second half. They were down 18-17 early in the fourth, went up 19-18, then were tied 19-19. SMS went up 20-19. Then Hatch regained the lead at 21-20 with 1:27 left on the clock.

The teams traded possessions back and forth until there were only about six seconds left in the game. The Lady Braves pushed the ball down the court, and with time about to expire #21 Amarissa Trujillo took a shot from the top of the arc. The ball bounced off the rim once, then twice, before falling away. Fans fell off their seats with a collective groan as time expired.

“I feel we should’ve won. We were so close.” Head Coach Roxanne Silva said.

The loss drops the team to 0-3 for the season, but Silva is feeling positive about the team this season.

“The girls have been working hard. Hopefully they got all the jitters out, and we can move forward in the season.” Silva said.

The Lady Braves are showing their potential as they have gotten a little bit better with each game.

“Our speed and defense, when we lock in.” Silva said about their strengths.

The eighth grade team is young and actually has several seventh graders playing on it to fill out the numbers. So, they have some figuring out to do in regards to their roles as individual players and also their identity as a team.

“Coming together as a team. Once we get that down, our season will go smoothly.” Silva said about improvements the team is working on.

Silva gave a shout-out to Trujillo for her performance all game long, including the final shot that came so close.

“Way to come out and play hard. Keep it up.” Silva said about Trujillo.