BAYFIELD – Able to pitch a near-shutout defensively during the third quarter, the rallying Montezuma-Cortez girls’ basketball team crept to within two points with only eight regulation minutes remaining, but ultimately could not erase the eight-point deficit facing them at halftime and suffered a season-ending 41-33 loss Tuesday evening in the Intermountain League District Tournament’s play-in game.

“That third quarter … that was definitely one of the things we talked [at halftime] about: Bayfield had made their run and so we were looking to make ours,” said M-CHS head coach Brad Wright. “And we did just that, but then we had a couple lapses and ended up re-digging a hole.”

“The game was definitely going our way; we did almost shut them out,” senior forward Presley Frost agreed, alluding to the Lady Panthers out-scoring host Bayfield 9-3 during the third, and approaching as close as 25-23 via senior Malia Begay’s clutch three-pointer off-setting Lady Wolverine junior Cayanne Carlson’s trey with less than a minute left in its closing moments.

“We can always rely on Myra (Simmons) and Malia to put down … 3s,” said Frost, who sparked the visitors’ third-quarter comeback herself with an early corner triple. “And we know to give it to them.”

“We changed our mindset,” junior center Paige Yarbrough said, explaining M-CHS’ post-intermission revitalization. “We were attacking rather than playing to not lose.”

BHS (9-11 overall), however, found a similar mentality right when it mattered most.

Beginning the final frame on a 13-2 run, featuring a sequence in which freshman reserve guard Riley Campbell knocked down back-to-back jumpers and then – after Wright took a 30-second timeout – zipped a perfect set-up pass to junior Madison Wells on the left wing for a crippling three, Bayfield’s advantage swelled to 38-25.

“Yeah, I just saw her out there and I was like, ‘I’m not going to try to drive; I’m just going to pass it,’” said Campbell. “She was wide-open … I just felt like we needed to score. We needed a win.”

M-CHS senior Dimery Plewe responded with a badly-needed free throw, but the Lady Wolverines answered with sophomore guard Maddy Oltmanns converting a breakaway layup with 3:22 left – maxing out the home team’s lead at 14 points.

With time remaining but expiring faster and faster, Montezuma-Cortez (6-13) again struck from deep with senior Mackenzie Begay cashing a trey and bringing the no-quit Lady Panthers back to 40-31.

“We obviously spend a lot of time working on our perimeter game; we expect that to be a big part,” Wright said. “If we would have shot a little bit better from outside the three-point line, I think it would’ve given us a better chance to win.”

But despite totaling four triples to Bayfield’s three, M-CHS – which had led 10-9 after the opening quarter before BHS junior center Macee Schulz started the second on a personal 6-0 run, with junior Brooke Merchant then tacking on a key three – would come up short.

Merchant would hit a late free throw (Bayfield finished 4-of-11 from the charity stripe; M-CHS was 7-of-12) and with 0:56 remaining, Lady Panther senior Hayden Leggett was lost to an apparent left ankle injury, resulting from a vertical, volleyball spike-style rejection by Schulz, causing Leggett to land hard and off-balance.

“Very bittersweet, tough to end the season like this, but when it’s all said and done, there’s only … one winner; unfortunately, it wasn’t us today,” said Wright.

Playing their final game in black-and-orange togs were Frost (5 points), Leggett (4), Simmons (4), Malia Begay (5), Taelynn Comisky, Plewe (3) and Mackenzie Begay (3) – a group the skipper said he’d be sad to see leaving the program.

“It’s going to be tough to replace what we have – the maturity level and the skill level – with the seniors,” Wright said. “But I’m really proud of what they’ve done; there’s a lot of character with the group and they’re going to do well in life, how they carry on.”

“I played softball with Taelynn and Myra, so … it was nice going from that to this sport because we already had a bond,” said Frost. “And, you know, I’ve been playing (basketball) with these seniors since, probably, my sixth grade year; it was nice to go out with them, and with the coach that we started with.”

“I’ve played with them since I was in fourth grade, so we have a lot of chemistry,” added Yarbrough (8 points). “We made some amazing progress, but I’m sad to see all the seniors leave.”

Schulz totaled a game-best 10 points, Oltmanns and Carlson each booked eight and Merchant six as Bayfield advanced to face regular-season IML champs Pagosa Springs (15-4) on Friday in the tourney’s Monte Vista-hosted semifinals.

“I thought that we came out with a lot of passion and a lot of drive,” said Carlson. “We need to have that mentality to … push ourselves forward in the season. We’re just going to have to focus on … working our hardest at practice.”

Centauri (17-2) and Alamosa (16-4) will settle the second semi; AHS mangled MVHS (2-18) in the other play-in, 54-5.