PREP HOOPS: Mescalero girls soar past Mesilla Valley, 75-19, in 3-2A opener

MESCALERO – To open up District 3-2A play, the Mescalero Apache School girls’ basketball team began on a high note.

Everything clicked for them on defense and offense.

On Monday night, Mescalero (18-1, 1-0) routed the Mesilla Valley Christian SonBlazers (7-8, 0-2) 75-19.

From here on out, the Chiefs can’t take anyone lightly. Every game counts and on any given day any team can pull off an upset.

“I thought we started well in the half-court trap,” Mescalero head coach Elmer Chavez said. “I was kind of nervous because we only beat Dexter by one and they lost to Dexter by six.

“That’s gonna set a precedent, we better be ready because I don’t want that team to come in here and beat us first game of the year. So, we were prepping for them all week. We were ready. We knew they had a couple shooters. I think we did a really good job on our trap. We kind of wore them down a little bit.”

Mescalero is young, but they have the mentality of an experienced squad.

The Chiefs pressed in the opening quarter and stifled the SonBlazers. Senior Katelyn Yuzos tallied 10 points in the first quarter as Mescalero took a 25-6 lead.

It was a track meet from the start and Mesilla couldn’t keep up.

Everything was flowing well for the Chiefs. They had contributions from seven different players. The bench also got some quality time on the court.

Mescalero outscored Mesilla, 21-6, in the second quarter to extend their lead to 34 points.

Yuzos had 19 points at the break, while sophomore Fallon Velasquez nailed a trio of three-pointers to record 13 points.

Mesilla was held to just seven points in the second half.

The Chiefs just kept executing to near perfection, while the SonBlazers couldn’t catch their breath.

Yuzos led the way with 31 points. She finished with 12 points in the second half. Velasquez chipped in with 20 points. Velasquez made four three-pointers.

Sophomore Ramona Fossum tallied 10 points.

Mescalero finished with five three-pointers. They also landed 28 shots in the paint. Yuzos made 15 shots in the paint.

The Chiefs went four-for-10 from the free throw line in a rather clean game. Mescalero only committed four fouls.

Mesilla Valley junior Makaela Velarde tallied eight points, while sophomore Lauren Ikard had seven points.

District 3-2A will and should be a battle once again between Mescalero and Lordsburg for the top spot. Last season both teams had to play in a tiebreaker. Lordsburg took the top seed and ended up winning the district tournament.

“We’re a very young team, but I told this team that this is one of the best teams I’ve ever coached,” Chavez said. “These kinds of teams don’t come around very often. We have freshmen and sophomores that are just talented. They’ve got a lot of skills.

“They got to keep working. They’re diving on the ground tonight. That’s the one thing I want to do every night is win the hustle battle, win the rebound battle and we shot lights out from the floor. They’re starting to realize that anybody can beat anybody on any given night.”

On a personal note, Chavez is one win away from notching 400 career wins.

“I’m kind of excited because I’m one win away from 400 for my career. It’s kind of like a nice milestone for me, but I don’t really care,” Chavez said. “I figure I got a few years left, but it’s kind of nice to get it.

“I can’t really count my years because half of them are in Colorado, half of them are boys and half of them are girls. For my own personal record, it’s kind of nice to have it. My mom’s excited. It’s fun coaching this team because they work hard. We’re just not teaching skills out there we’re teaching lifetime skills.”

UP NEXT: Mescalero travels to Lordsburg at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Mesilla Valley boys race past Mescalero, 67-44

In the game of basketball, a team can’t simply just flip the switch and decide to play their best game. It’s either there or it isn’t.

What seemed like the makings of a respectable game later turned into a double-digit loss.

On Monday night, the Mesilla Valley Christian SonBlazers (13-2, 2-0) defeated the Mescalero Chiefs (10-8, 0-1) 67-44.

Back on Thursday, Mescalero was on the brink of upsetting Gateway Christian, however the game slipped through their fingers in overtime.

“Like I tell them I’d rather have some work to do than say, ‘Hey, this was our best shot,’” Mescalero head coach Adam Herrera said. “We understand that we got some work to do.

“Even in the Gateway game we had some stuff late in the game. This game tonight we just came out so flat – such a lack of intensity.”

Mesilla Valley held a 17-9 lead in the opening quarter.

The SonBlazers went on to outscore the Chiefs, 21-10, in the second frame to hold a 38-19 lead at the break.

Mescalero was just out of sync. They came out with no intensity and seemed intimidated by Mesilla Valley’s size inside.

It’s also hard to try and keep up with a fast-paced team while committing turnovers and trying to force scoring opportunities inside.

The Chiefs were held to seven points in the third quarter, which allowed the SonBlazers to extend their lead to 28 points.

Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs started to find a spark on offense as they outscored Mesilla, 18-13. At that time, it was too late.

Mesilla senior Hunter Conn tallied 17 points, while sophomore Noah Nunley added with 15 points.

Junior Josh Castillo chipped in with 12 points.

The SonBlazers shot six-for-eight from the free throw line.

Sophomore Cullen Orozco led the Chiefs with 13 points. Juniors Aloysius Comanche and Jamal Rocha along with freshman George Rocha each had nine points.

Rocha made three three-pointers. He nailed a long distance shot from beyond the half court line to end the first half.

It was a clean game. Mesilla had five fouls in comparison to Mescalero’s eight fouls.

“We tell them it’s not a light switch. You can’t turn it on and off. You gotta turn it on or leave it on,” Herrera said. “We definitely got to play better, but when the team shows up that played Gateway we wouldn’t have lost very many games. I don’t see us losing many more games if that team shows up.”

UP NEXT: Mescalero travels to Lordsburg at 6 p.m. Friday.