{"id":24693,"date":"2024-11-26T23:33:12","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T06:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-girls-basketball-excited-to-follow-up-historic-season\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:59:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:59:05","slug":"montezuma-cortez-girls-basketball-excited-to-follow-up-historic-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-girls-basketball-excited-to-follow-up-historic-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez girls basketball excited to follow up historic season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Panthers
Panthers junior Taylor Whited scores on a breakaway in a contest against San Juan at Montezuma-Cortes High School. Whited will lead the Panthers this season as one of the senior captains, as M-CHS looks to follow up a strong 2023-24 season. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span>Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 With each passing milestone, the 2023-24 Montezuma-Cortez girls basketball season built confidence that made it apparent that the Panthers\u2019 basketball success would be more than a one-year phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Sixth-year head coach Brad Wright has the program steered in the right direction, coming off the first winning season in over two decades. For the upcoming winter, the Panthers bring back plenty of key contributors, ready to sustain the energy as the Panthers jump into the 4A classification.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s 3A Sweet 16 success served as a springboard for the Panthers, something that Wright hopes will carry over for the program at both the varsity and sub-varsity levels. Over 40 student-athletes have turned up for early-season practices, which bodes well for internal competition that will sharpen the squad as the season gets underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some big shoes to fill this year,\u201d said Wright, \u201cbut it\u2019s amazing what a season like last year\u2019s did for our program. We have a sense of belonging that we can go toe-to-toe with any team that we go up against.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Taylor Whited looks to guide a core of upperclassmen back in to the fray of one of the toughest leagues in the state. The guard looks to continue to provide a spark for the Panthers on both ends of the court, serving as the team\u2019s top returning scorer, as well as leader in assists and steals.<\/p>\n

Classmate Kalea Ogo helped M-CHS control the glass last season, and returns as the Panther rebounding leader.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Kalea Ogo (14) surveys the Lady Panthers' offensive setup while guarded by Ignacio's Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga during IML action Ogo and the Panthers senior class look to lead the Panthers to another memorable season. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cTaylor, Kalea, and our seniors have really taken ownership \u2013 they\u2019ve been the embodiment of the team,\u201d added Wright, \u201cand having so many returning players allows us to build new wrinkles on top of what the players are already familiar with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior Sariah Jackson joins Whited in the backcourt, providing a dynamic scoring threat, as well as rebounding and steals for the Panthers.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez junior Sariah Jackson (13) looks to lead the Panther backcourt this winter as M-CHS hopes for an encore season. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Senior Reyaunna Jones and sophomore Abigale Baker look to enjoy an elevated roles for the Panthers at guard and wing positions this winter, while junior Siana Elliott and senior Kayden Lee will take on important post minutes for Wright\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

Several incoming freshmen and rising junior varsity players look to break into the rotation, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the actions that we\u2019ll run on offense, perimeter shooting is a must,\u201d said Wright, reflecting on how improved the Panthers were as a team last year from beyond the arc. He then added, \u201cWe\u2019ll be focused on running an offense that utilizes the strengths of our players \u2013 and that\u2019s something we\u2019ll be developing throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers enjoyed a defensive tenacity that contributed to their transition game \u2013 something that Wright hopes to carry over into this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we\u2019re not a tall team, we know that we\u2019re going to have to be disruptive, so if we can keep other teams from getting into their offensive sets, that\u2019ll help us immensely,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n

M-CHS opens the season in Shiprock for the Jerry Richardson Memorial tournament over the weekend of Dec. 5-7. The Panthers will follow that action with games against San Juan (Utah) on Dec. 10 and a pre-inter break tournament at \u201cThe Rumble in the Jungle\u201d in Aztec on Dec. 19-21.<\/p>\n

The Intermountain League sees the return of Monte Vista, so the split classification (4A and 3A) conference is now at seven teams. After playing Durango (Jan. 7) in their first action of 2025, league play begins when the Panthers head to the San Luis Valley to face Centauri and Alamosa on Jan. 17-18. Their home opener won\u2019t arrive until Jan. 30 against Bayfield, which kicks off an eight-game home stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur tough strength of schedule is something that the kids enjoy \u2013 and it builds a foundation for league and postseason play,\u201d added Wright. \u201cThat success is contagious, and so our girls are becoming mentors in the basketball community so that the next generation of girls are growing up wanting to be just like them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers head to 4A with plenty of talent from last year\u2019s Sweet 16 team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24694,"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-24693","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\/24693","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=24693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78638,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24693\/revisions\/78638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24693"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}