Tiger Girls Take Tournament Honors, Ready For District

In game two, Friday evening, the Tigers faced off against our District foe, the Cobre Indians. This was a good test heading into district competition next week. The Tiger girls again dominated. Hitting hard and fast, after one, they were up 19-10. They built on that through the second, heading to the locker room at the half, riding a 32-19 lead.

The rest of the game was another opportunity to rest the starters and give others valuable minutes on court, experience that be needed through to the end of the season. The Tigers still outscored Cobre 22-14 for the half, with an energetic Tiger defense holding the Indians to just three points in the third quarter. in the final score was Tigers by 19 points, 54-35.

The two wins set up the tournament’s main attraction on Saturday evening, between the Tigers and the Tularosa Wildcat varsity for the tournament championship.  

The Tigers beat the Wildcats early in the season 45-43, at the Red or Green Tournament. In their second meeting, January 6, the Tigers fell, 20-59. The Tigers were high charged for a rematch and it was a battle from beginning to end.

A low scoring first quarter had the Tigers down, 7-8, but they doubled down, taking the lead into halftime on a 9-6 second quarter run.

Though many Tiger shots weren’t falling, Tiger D was tight as a glove, and with everyone crashing the boards, the Tigers were usually holding the ‘Cats to a single shot.

Things heated up in the third quarter and got scorching hot in the fourth. It was Tuli winning the third quarter, 5-15, giving them a healthy eight-point lead going into the final stanza. Expanding on that until with six minutes and change left, the Tigers were down ten and things were looking grim. That’s when the Tigers dug even deeper.

Though the Wildcats managed nine points from the line, the Tigers didn’t allow a single basket in the last quarter, while the Tigers added 16 points of their own.

If you do the math, you see the outcome, Tigers down a point when the horn blew. That doesn’t tell the story though, not even close.  

If the Tiger defense was tight before, they stepped it up about five notches in the fourth. Stealing the ball, grabbing Wildcat passes, forcing turnovers and denying the baskets, the Tigers worked together and with ferocity. Marixa Garcia and Logan Woods each scored seven points in the quarter, mostly off Wildcat turnovers. With just a minute and a bit to go, the Tigers had their opponents on the ropes. With the horn, the home team knew they had only just barely escaped with the win, by a point, 37-38.

Though the officials seemed more friendly to the home team at times, it was free throws that sank the Tiger down the stretch. On 23 attempts at the line, the Tigers made seven, while Tularosa managed 15 on 28 attempts.

After the game, the Tigers were awarded the plaque for second place overall and Logan Woods, Marixa Garcia and Alex Gonzales were named All-Tournament.

Through three games at the tournament, four Tigers scored double digits, Logan Woods, Marixa Garcia, Alex Gonzales and Brooklynn Garcia with five other Tigers getting in the scorebook. 

The Tiger girls are competing both with an intensity and a level of team cohesiveness and trust that marks them as a team that others are going to have to watch out for. Their last outing, at Ruidoso on Tuesday, that we’re still waiting to get the stats for as we go to press. The Tigers fell 42-63 in that one, which was very much a game of two halves where the second half saw the Tigers match their hosts point for point in a 3-30 draw. Next up for the Tiger girls is the beginning of district competition, defending the Den against incoming Cobre on Tuesday, February 1.