{"id":35676,"date":"2023-02-20T00:36:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T07:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-runs-away-from-montezuma-cortez-girls\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:26:24","slug":"ignacio-runs-away-from-montezuma-cortez-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-runs-away-from-montezuma-cortez-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignacio runs away from Montezuma-Cortez girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"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 Feb. 16, at M-CHS. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Throughout her scoreless first half, Ignacio point guard Laci Brunson frequently heard head coach Trae Seibel shouting \u201cHigh percentage!\u201d when it came to the shots she and her fellow ballhandlers should seek to set up.<\/p>\n

And fortunately, the Lady Bobcats were able to do so enough during two back-and-forth quarters Feb. 16, inside Montezuma-Cortez High School Gymnasium, with senior forward\/center Harmony Reynolds and junior center\/forward Solymar Cosio combining for six field goals and 16 of the visitors\u2019 24 total points.<\/p>\n

But with the hosting Lady Panthers looking to deliver unto Amiyah Ogo a Senior Night win, 3A M-CHS not only recovered from squandering a game-starting 7-0 lead, but also entered intermission trailing by just a point, 24-23, after managing to erase 3A IHS\u2019 22-16 lead during the last 4:29 of the second stanza.<\/p>\n

Having already cashed a left-wing 3-pointer tying the 3A\/4A Intermountain League contest at 22-all, junior sniper Cyriah Begay drilled another equalizer from out of a corner early in the third, tying the score again at 28.<\/p>\n

Not long after, Seibel hollered a new command: \u201cSpread! Spread!\u201d<\/p>\n

Music to a certain senior\u2019s ears.<\/p>\n

\"Ignacio\u2019s
Ignacio\u2019s Harmony Reynolds (34) takes contact while snaring a rebound during IML action Feb. 16, at Montezuma-Cortez. Reynolds totaled a game-high 15 in the Lady Bobcats' 46-31 win. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Kayce Tom (52) attempts a long, straight-on jumper over Ignacio's Solymar Cosio and Maci Barnes (left) during IML action Feb. 16, at M-CHS. Tom scored five points in a 46-31 loss. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Cyriah Begay (33) fires a left-wing 3-pointer over teammate Trenity Tillahash (5) and Ignacio's Marissa Olguin during IML action Feb. 16, at M-CHS. Begay hit three 3-pointers and totaled nine points in the Lady Panthers' 46-31 loss. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI turned her loose,\u201d a grinning Seibel quipped afterward.<\/p>\n

Powered by two successful Brunson drives \u2013 one producing an \u2018and-one\u2019 bonus free throw \u2013 through a less-congested lane, Ignacio strung together seven unanswered points before Montezuma-Cortez managed a basket trimming a growing deficit back down to 35-30 beginning the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

But after Reynolds (15 points, 3-4 FT) and Cosio (9, 1-2 FT) each crashed inside for close-range buckets, countered by only a single Kalea Ogo free throw, Brunson began putting the finishing touches on what ended up a 46-31 road victory. First came a three-pointer, assisted by junior guard Maci Barnes, out of the corner with 3:52 left in regulation, with two FTs \u2013 resulting from an Amiyah Ogo foul \u2013 then following with 2:43 remaining.<\/p>\n

Able to keep M-CHS junior Savannah Haselroth (eight first-half points, one second-half) in check while also surrendering no more Begay treys the rest of the way, the Lady \u2019Cats maxed out their lead with one final Brunson take to the hoop.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach just told us that we had to play disciplined, because (the game) kept going back and forth,\u201d said Brunson (3-3 FT), who totaled 14 points. \u201cWhen we had a lead we had to just move the ball and take our time to get a good shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key to IHS\u2019 efforts early, Barnes ended up with six points \u2013 all in the first half \u2013 and sophomore Marissa Olguin chipped in her two during the first frame in response to a Haselroth three putting M-CHS up 10-9 \u2013 and halting a 9-0 Ignacio spree wiping out the Lady Panthers\u2019 initial seven-point burst.<\/p>\n

Begay totaled three threes and nine points for Montezuma-Cortez (4-14, 2-8 IML), and junior Kayce Tom scored five with her first four \u2013 two via a buzzer-beating, close-range baseline basket \u2013 coming during the wild, tone-setting first quarter. Junior Markylla Jones booked four points, while Kalea Ogo, a sophomore, and freshman Sariah Jackson each managed two.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came out on a high note, which is really good especially with us in a new league,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cSo we\u2019re excited to just go on, see what we can do \u2026 in the postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ignacio (10-9, 4-6 IML) will next see action in the upcoming IML District Tournament, hosted by Centauri.<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez, meanwhile, will host the play-in game \u2013 Bayfield being a likely opponent \u2013 Tuesday, Feb. 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brunson-fueled second half yields road win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[600,861,36,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-basketball","tag-high-schools","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35676","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=35676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83066,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35676\/revisions\/83066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35676"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}