{"id":30099,"date":"2023-12-20T22:47:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T05:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/solid-start-has-montezuma-cortez-panthers-dreaming-big\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:11:09","slug":"solid-start-has-montezuma-cortez-panthers-dreaming-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/solid-start-has-montezuma-cortez-panthers-dreaming-big\/","title":{"rendered":"Solid start has Montezuma-Cortez Panthers dreaming big"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"M-CHS
M-CHS junior Taylor Whited looks to fire a pass past Kirtland Central's\u00a0Zoie Benally in a game at M-CHS. (Ben Bradley, Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

CORTEZ \u2013 Oftentimes, a team\u2019s character won\u2019t truly appear when the team meets in a huddle when leading by 20 points.<\/p>\n

Rather, a coach\u2019s measuring stick of team investment comes during a timeout, trailing by 20.<\/p>\n

Facing a Kirtland Central squad with New Mexico Class 4A state title aspirations, the Montezuma-Cortez girls basketball team were down by a bundle midway through the second quarter, in the huddle during a timeout. Surrounding fifth-year coach Brad Wright, the Panthers\u2019 facial expressions and nods showed the visages of rapt attention and belief.<\/p>\n

The Panthers burst from the huddle into a stunning 7-0 run to pull within 15, before the Broncos finally responded, eventually pulling away for a 79-42 victory. However, in a season of continual growth for M-CHS, the message was clear: they\u2019re here for the full 32 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never quit,\u201d Wright said after the game. \u201cThe girls played their hearts out. They understand the value of being a team, even when it\u2019s harder in games like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The M-CHS cheerleaders perform at a basketball contest in Cortez after claiming 4th place in the 3A Cheer state championships.\u00a0(Ben Bradley, Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Through the bulk of their nonleague schedule, the Panthers are 4-3 entering the holiday break, with all three of their losses coming against Kirtland Central, 2020 and 2021 New Mexico 3A state champion Navajo Prep and Utah 1A heavyweight Monument Valley.<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez is above .500 entering the holiday break for the second time since 2015-16.<\/p>\n

The Panthers haven\u2019t backed down from a challenge as the calendar flips to 2024, and the state is beginning to take notice. Dominant wins in Gunnison over the host Cowboys (58-35) and Crested Butte (60-39) propelled the Panthers up the 3A rankings in the first release of the CHSAA Seeding Index \u2013 the metric for determining postseason assignments.<\/p>\n

For the first time in years, M-CHS found themselves in the top 10, a clear indication that this year\u2019s early-season success may have some staying power.<\/p>\n

Balance has been the key for the Panthers \u2013 nine players scored in their win over Gunnison, including 15 from junior Taylor Whited and a career-high 13 from senior Kayce Tom. Freshman Milah Begay added eight in the win over Crested Butte, while Savannah Haselroth chipped in 17 points during that game.<\/p>\n

Senior Markylla Jones has emerged as a rebounding machine, nearly averaging a double-double, while junior Kalea Ogo has led a strong supporting cast of stat-stuffing Panthers who have done the little things well to keep M-CHS on its current trajectory.<\/p>\n

After averaging 37.9 points per game last year, M-CHS is averaging 53.6 points per game seven games into the 2023-24 campaign, thanks to crisper ball movement and improved shooting percentages.<\/p>\n

The Panthers know the Intermountain League will hold its standard high-caliber challenges. Five of the six teams in the league found themselves in the top 10 of their respective classification rankings.<\/p>\n

M-CHS will host Bayfield in its first action back from winter break on Jan. 12, followed a trip to Alamosa the following afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be ready,\u201d Wright said of his team\u2019s ambitions to shake up the standard rankings in the 4A\/3A IML, \u201cthey feel it on the court together \u2013 that they\u2019re one of the better programs in the 3A \u2013 and they\u2019ve gained a certain level of poise as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers above .500 entering the holiday break for second time since 2015-16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[600,28,642,1815,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-basketball","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-sports","tag-kirtland-central-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\/30099","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=30099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80965,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30099\/revisions\/80965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30099"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}