Mayfield girls use outside shooting to beat rival Bulldawgs
The Mayfield girls' basketball team has shown for most of the season that they are multi-dimensional in the way they can beat teams.
Mayfield girls use outside shooting to beat rival Bulldawgs The Mayfield girls' basketball team has shown for most of the season that they are multi-dimensional in the way they can beat teams. Check out this story on lcsun-news.com: https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/sports/2019/01/29/mayfield-girls-use-outside-shooting-beat-rival-bulldawgs/2716199002/
Derek Gonzales, For the Sun-News Published 11:17 p.m. MT Jan. 29, 2019
Stock Photo (Photo: Scukrov / Stock Photo)
LAS CRUCES—The Mayfield girls' basketball team has shown for most of the season that they are multi-dimensional in the way they can beat teams.
When Colby Community College signee and senior forward Alize Ruiz has received the attention of the opposing defense, the Trojans have leaned on contributions from the backcourt to power their offensive attack – doing so again Tuesday night, defeating a pesky Las Cruces High team 37-27 at Mayfield High School.
The win did not come easy. The Bulldawgs (8-12, 2-4 District 3-6A) were able to use their length to make their zone defense effective and it made entry passes inside to Ruiz tough to come by. What Las Cruces was willing to give up were perimeter shot and the Trojans were able to make just enough to keep the Bulldawgs at bay.
Senior guard Alyssa Madrid knocked down a pair of first-half 3-pointers including a spot-up look on a swing pass to give the Trojans a five-point lead as the Bulldawgs were creeping back into the game. The shot sparked a small 9-3 run to close the second quarter and the Trojans (15-5, 6-0 District 3-6A) headed into the locker room with a six-point lead.
Madrid finished with nine points and Jasmyn Rios chipped in eight to keep steady the Mayfield offense. Ruiz led the Trojans with 12 points but they were tough to come by as she was being swormed by the Bulldawg defense all night.
Despite the game wire-to-wire win, Mayfield head coach George Maya was hard-pressed to find positives for his team after the game but tip his hat to the Bulldawgs for their effort.
"You have to give Las Cruces credit – they played hard, they were well-prepared, and the kids played their hearts out," Maya said. "Offensively, it was basically like we did not know what to do. We were pretty much lost. But you have to give Cruces credit – they took away a lot of what we do. Our guards just did not play well and did not run the team as well as I wanted them to."
Maya's defensive gameplan included extra attention on Bulldawg junior forward Christina Aguayo, as she was face-guarded the entire game. It made life tough for the Bulldawgs on offense at times, but Aguayo was still able to keep the Bulldawgs within striking distance until the end, finishing with 14 points.
In the end, it was not enough for a Bulldawg team that has many new faces in the rotation after the graduation of current Sacramento State guard Sarah Abney, Cochise College guard Janessa Johnson and the three other starters from last season totaling 92 percent of their offensive product according to head coach Matt Abney.
Despite the loss, Abney was happy with the effort level and is excited to get back to practice and continue to work towards improvement, seemingly enjoying the challenge of breaking in an entire new roster this year.
"A lot of people thought I was going to retire after that group left (last season) but I have loved the challenge – they are extremely coachable, they work hard and I am really proud of them," Abney said. "We struggled to score the ball tonight, but we played extremely hard. They are competitors and I am hoping we have a really good second half of district play."
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The Centennial girls basketball team defeated Gadsden 54-17 on Tuesday. Jessica Rios led the Hawks with 16 points and Arianna Serna scored 11 points.
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The Gadsden boys basketball team improved to 4-2 in District 3-5A with a 42-35 victory over Centennial on Tuesday.
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Mesilla Valley Christian improved to 11-6 on the season. Noah Coyle led the SonBlazers with 24 points, Nolan Nunley scored 21 points and Michael Johnson scored 17 points.
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