{"id":13769,"date":"2026-01-28T16:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/second-half-deluge-lifts-panthers-to-win-over-ignacio\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:41:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:41:04","slug":"second-half-deluge-lifts-panthers-to-win-over-ignacio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/second-half-deluge-lifts-panthers-to-win-over-ignacio\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-half deluge lifts Panthers to win over Ignacio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"M-CHS
M-CHS senior Sariah Jackson operates the dribble against Ignacio\u2019s Alyssa Atencio in a contest between the Panthers and Bobcats in The Jungle on Tuesday night. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 With each offensive rebound and second\u2011chance opportunity, the Panthers kept challenging the Bobcats defense, but through 2\u00bd quarters, the Ignacio fortifications held up.<\/p>\n

With the Panthers holding a 16\u201115 lead midway through the third quarter, M\u2011CHS sophomore Kyndall Schmitt buried a three from the top of the key to shift the momentum decisively.<\/p>\n

On their home court on Tuesday night, the Panthers ended a two\u2011week series of close calls on the short end of the scoreboard. They maintained defensive pressure on Ignacio for four quarters and put the game out of reach with an extended run in the late third and early fourth quarter to win 50\u201127.<\/p>\n

In their past five contests, the Panthers faced top\u201110 or 5A competition but didn\u2019t shy away from the uphill climbs in narrow defeats to Durango, Montrose, Centauri, Alamosa and Pagosa Springs. The chance to face an opponent they could control on the glass gave M\u2011CHS an opportunity to regain control after second\u2011chance points had hurt the team during their five\u2011game skid.<\/p>\n

The Panthers\u2019 dominance in the rebounding margin couldn\u2019t be understated, as junior Shoshawna Washburn, senior Siana Elliott and freshman Raya Hall led an effort in which the home team had third and fourth looks at the rim for much of the night.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With multiple chances on most trips, the Panthers kept the momentum even when their shots weren\u2019t falling. While Ignacio senior Alyssa Atencio brought the Bobcats within one on a layup after the team trailed 11\u20110 after the opening quarter, Schmitt\u2019s 3\u2011pointer sparked a Panthers run.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt halftime, we talked as a team and said \u2018we\u2019ve got this,\u2019\u201d said Elliott, \u201cand we were able to come together as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u2011CHS freshman Aubrey Taveira found pockets of space on the block, and her teammates got her the ball as the wing scored all of her game\u2011high 12 points in the second half. Senior Sariah Jackson overcame a rough start, and she and Elliott scored their 15 combined points after halftime.<\/p>\n

Elliott, Taveira and Washburn controlled the paint in the final 16 minutes, with baskets starting to fall more consistently as they wore down the Bobcats interior.<\/p>\n

\u201cM. E., Bryce, and Sabrina (the Panthers coaching staff) have really helped me work on my post moves,\u201d added Elliott, \u201cand that\u2019s allowed me to focus on playing basketball like I know how to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bobcats junior Aubree Lucero hit a pair of threes and finished with a co\u2011team\u2011high eight points alongside senior Julie Anna Avila, but once the Panthers increased their offensive tempo, the visitors struggled to keep pace.<\/p>\n

M\u2011CHS (5\u20118, 1\u20113 4A\/3A IML) poured in 22 fourth\u2011quarter points on its way to its first league win of the season, giving the team a needed boost heading into a three\u2011week stretch spent mostly on the road.<\/p>\n

Schmitt added eight to a balanced Panthers attack, while sophomore Mia Glazner (four points) joined Taveira and Elliott as key contributors off the bench.<\/p>\n

Elliott acknowledged that the roster is young but credited head coach M.E. Haley for helping the team make significant progress. \u201cI\u2019m excited for what we have ahead,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ignacio (3\u201111, 1\u20113 4A\/3A IML) heads to Alamosa on Friday before returning home to face Monte Vista on Saturday.<\/p>\n

M\u2011CHS will face Monte Vista and Bayfield on the road on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Panthers return home on Tuesday, Feb. 3 for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against Mancos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M-CHS freshman Aubrey Taveira tallies career-high to help Panthers end slide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13769"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20680,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13769\/revisions\/20680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13769"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}