{"id":37062,"date":"2022-11-29T22:02:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T05:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-girls-ready-for-class-3a-return\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:35:26","slug":"ignacio-girls-ready-for-class-3a-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-girls-ready-for-class-3a-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignacio girls ready for Class 3A return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ignacio's
Ignacio's Harmony Reynolds (34) leads a fast break during road action last season at Del Norte. Now a senior, Reynolds will be a primary low-post weapon as the Lady Bobcats return to the Class 3A ranks. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Still very much built for speed on the basketball court, Ignacio head coach Trae Seibel knows his Bobcats will also have to be built for battle this winter as IHS returns to the Colorado High School Activities Association\u2019s Class 3A ranks.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the rugged Intermountain League, of which Ignacio was last a member in the 2007-08 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur practices have been geared for that, big time,\u201d said Seibel, who\u2019d led the \u2019Cats during the 2017-18 campaign, taking them to the CHSAA Class 2A State Championships in Loveland. \u201cWe\u2019re really just getting them into shape; we have to be a team that is able to press well and be able to break a press.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re back in the IML, so \u2026 for us, it changes our whole dynamic; there\u2019s no more winning 89-2 or things like that,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a dogfight day in and day out. Centauri looks great, Pagosa\u2019s big, Alamosa\u2019s going to be tough \u2026 and we have to go through those teams now to get to the next level. Our dynamic\u2019s had to change; it\u2019s intensified, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having surfaced above .500 just twice during the 2021-22 grind, the \u2019Cats fortunately broke even under one-year skipper Tony Gomez despite falling 47-38 at Peyton in the 2A-Region VIII semifinals. Ignacio finished 11-11 overall \u2013 making the \u2019Cat program 180-126 in its 14 seasons in the 2A\/1A San Juan Basin League. IHS also lost Avaleena Nanaeto Elisia Cruz and Monika Lucero to graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did get basically everybody back,\u201d said Seibel, \u201cso we\u2019re returning players and hoping that we can build off of last year, continue to grow. That\u2019s my biggest thing: To get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing a lot different is bringing in a system of read-and-react. And a lot of low-post, high-post attack,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re really going to build upon the guard set we\u2019ve got \u2026 and the girls are now learning how to play their positions, learning about mismatches, and really growing their intelligence \u2013 to figure out how to take the basketball and put it in the hoop!\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior guard Laci Brunson returns to anchor the backcourt, and will be joined by junior Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga, sophomore Marissa Olguin, junior Maci Barnes and others. Freshman Alyssa Atencio, according to Seibel, will be a prospect worth watching, with further depth offered by potential returnees Alexis Ortiz, Lauren deKay, Grace Pargin and Dalaney Wesner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got about four to five guards that are quick and know how to work hard. Right now it\u2019s just about refining their skills, teaching them how to go inside, pass to our posts,\u201d he said, \u201cand how to move with purpose and really take care of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a strong guard set, and a strong post set as well with Soly and Harmony,\u201d Seibel added, referring to junior Solymar Cosio and senior Harmony Reynolds. \u201cIt\u2019s a good balance we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining Seibel on the bench will be a coaching staff headed by varsity assistants Gina Cosio and Cloe Seibel. Avionne Gomez returns to direct the junior-varsity squad, and Makayla Howell will oversee the C-team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the IML, Gina was a force,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd she coached under Chris Valdez when he was the girls\u2019 coach; she\u2019s got a lot of experience. These ladies that I\u2019ve hired, it\u2019s good for the young ladies to look up to them and go, \u2018These girls used to play a high level of basketball!\u2019 It\u2019s good mentorship. And for the coaches a good opportunity to give back what they\u2019ve learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2019Cats will get underway at 7 p.m. Thursday, facing Olathe at the Centauri-hosted Mountain Top Classic.<\/p>\n

IHS defeated Olathe twice last season \u2013 once at the MTC, and later in the 2A-District 3 Tournament\u2019s third-place game, ending Olathe\u2019s season while extending their own into the Class 2A State Tournament\u2019s opening round-of-32.<\/p>\n

The winner will then face either Dove Creek \u2013 which reached last season\u2019s Class 1A State Championships and finished 21-3 overall \u2013 or Centauri\u2019s JV on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to really compete,\u201d Seibel said. \u201cMy focus is on Olathe, make sure we take care of business, and see what we\u2019ve got right off the bat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in the mix will be Centauri\u2019s varsity \u2013 last season\u2019s IML champion with a 7-1 mark, \u2013 plus now-5A Durango (17-8 last year, eliminated in the Class 4A \u2018Sweet 16\u2019), now-3A Cedaredge (22-4, fifth place at the 2A state championships), and still-3A Brush (9-12).<\/p>\n

Now classified as a 4A\/3A league, the Intermountain includes now-4A programs Alamosa and Pagosa Springs, plus still-3As Centauri, Bayfield and Montezuma-Cortez. For postseason play, CHSAA has designated Southern Peaks Leaguers Crested Butte to be part of a district comprised of IHS (reclassified to 3A this year for basketball only), BHS, CHS and M-CHS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

skipper Seibel to lead IML invasion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[600],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-basketball"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062","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=37062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83543,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062\/revisions\/83543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37062"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}