Lady Tigers Show Promise
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Sanchez, during a telephone interview Monday, said he was extremely pleased with his team’s effort, both on the road and at home. “I’m happy from the standpoint that we played a very good Cliff team and held them to 50 points,” he said, adding while his team had 36 turnovers, the Lady Cowboys committed 21 of their own – a testament to Hot Springs’ defensive efforts. “Our problem was the other 21 turnovers, 16 times we turned it right back over to them,” Sanchez said. “A lot of it had to do with first game jitters and running into a quality ball club. “We know we are going to struggle a little bit early, but the difference this year is we’re battling and playing people for 32 minutes, as opposed to getting down and giving up at halftime.” Against Magdalena Saturday, the Lady Steers jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, and 53 seconds into the game, Sanchez called one of the earliest timeouts in recent HSHS basketball memory Clendenin, the Lady Tigers’ fiery, 5-foot-5 pointguard, scored her team’s first two points by darting into the middle of the lane, getting fouled and hitting both of her freethrows. It was a key moment this early in the season for what will be a key position in 2009-10. “I was real pleased with her effort,” Sanchez said, adding he credits his upperclassmen, Amber Baca, Samantha Trujillo, Michelle Shivers and Brittany Cardona for “putting (Clendenin) in a situation where’s she’s comfortable on the floor. I’m real pleased with the leadership and how some of the older girls are taking the younger girls under their wing and showing them the ropes.”
Clendenin also displayed her abilities as a good passer, finding senior forward Baca cutting toward the bucket, delivering the ball crisply, and Baca finishing the play for two critical buckets early on to make it 12-7 Hot Springs. With 3:50 left in the first quarter, Magdalena’s head coach, Wally Sanchez (Walt’s uncle) called the first reactionary timeout in recent memory against a Lady Tigers squad. The elder Sanchez is unaccustomed to being down even five points to HSHS, but his nephew said future opposing coaches will have to include timeout management in their repertoire as the Lady Tigers continue to develop. “Not that we’re super-potent on offense, but we’re getting defensive stops and making things difficult for opposing offenses,” said Sanchez. “Defense is what gave us a chance to win on Saturday night.” Hot Springs followed up on that Wally Sanchez timeout with an impressive defensive stand, then Clendenin scored again to give the Lady Tigers what would amount to their biggest lead of the night at 14-7. HSHS enjoyed a six-point lead after the first quarter despite 12 turnovers, compared to Magdalena’s seven. The Tigers struggled in-bounding the ball against the full court press. Once the ball was in Clendenin’s hands, the Lady Steers’ fullcourt pressure was largely negated, although Clendenin occasionally lost the ball for lack of awareness of defenders sneaking up behind her as she drove downcourt. The Tigers turned the ball over a total of 25 times, while their own defensive efforts forced the usually steady Steers to suffer an uncharacteristic 17 offensive miscues of their own.
“Sarai and Tessa are getting playing time for the same reason that Shivers and Trujillo are getting playing time – because of good defense,” said Sanchez. Senior power forwards Shivers, a junior, and Trujillo, a senior, played outstanding defense against Magdalena’s skilled big girls. They pounded the defensive boards well too.
The Lady Tigers led through most of the third quarter, with Baca scoring on nifty baseline drive, Shivers hitting a baseline jumper and Cardona scoring off an assist from Clendenin. Leading by only four points to start the fourth, Magdalena got off to a fast start with a bucket off an offensive rebound and a pair of free throws off a fast break foul. Midway through the final frame, Hot Springs was down 12 points, a big deficit in this low-scoring affair, but Sanchez continued to urge his players to “work hard on defense.” The Lady Tigers not only responded with a continued solid defensive effort, they went on a four-point scoring run with Baca finding Trujillo down low for an easy score, and then Trujillo scoring again on the next trip down the floor on an inbounds play. It demonstrated this team is ready to compete from start to finish regardless of scoreboard indicators.
Next up for the Lady Tigers was a road trip to 4A Deming Tuesday night. HSHS was a decided underdog, but it was another opportunity for Sanchez to keep teaching and his players to keep learning. At this rate, look for Sanchez to notch his first victory as Lady Tigers head coach as early as the Dec. 3-5 Magdalena Tourney (participating teams unavailable by presstime). Sanchez did note that Hot Springs will open the tournament Thursday against a junior varsity squad out of Rio Rancho. |
Junior
shooting guard Brittany Cardona gave Hot Springs its first lead of the night at
5-4 when she converted on an offensive rebound and was fouled for a
three-point play
Speculation
abounded in the preseason on how much varsity playing time 6-foot-1
freshman center Tessa Jones will see this year. She saw plenty of it
Saturday night and contributed key minutes, grabbing defensive rebounds,
scoring a bucket, blocking shots and simply being an imposing defensive
presence in the lane. Jones also showed she’s not afraid to dive to
the floor for a loose ball.
Another
effective play was Cardona finding a cutting Trujillo for an uncontested
layup to give the Lady Tigers a 20-16 lead with 2:50 left in the second
quarter. Poor freethrow shooting early in the period prevented the
Tigers from building a bigger lead.
“We’re
being super-competitive with quality teams that we weren’t competitive
with last year,” Sanchez said. “Now it’s just a matter of staying
competitive, turning the corner and getting over that hump.”