CALLING THE PLAY: Rio Rancho head coach Bob McIntyre encourages his team during a fourth-quarter timeout in Thursday's state tournament game with Alamogordo.

Rio Rancho rallies to beat Alamogordo by 10

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

ALBUQUERQUE – What’s good for the goose looked great for the gander, too.

Three days after the Rio Rancho boys basketball team eliminated Alamogordo from the New Mexico state basketball tournament, the RRHS girls did the same, rallying from a 12-point first-half deficit to beat the Tigers 54-44 in a quarterfinal game Tuesday afternoon at University Arena.

Megan Muniz scored a game- high 26 points, including 16 in a row in one stretch in the third and fourth quarters, as the Rams overcame a tough-shooting first half to pull away late in the game.

“What you saw today was the way they’ve been all year,” Rio Rancho head coach Bob McIntyre said. “All we talked about at half time was, ‘You know what? Let’s go play. Think about the word play. Let’s go out and have fun. We’re at The Pit.

“We took some shot in the first half that looked like they were nervous shots, a little bit hurried. I thought Alamogordo shot extremely well. And I said, ‘You know what? They’re getting a good look at it, but they’re just playing. So go down there and have some fun. We’ll get back into the game.’

“We just believe. We persevere. We’re one of them that cut the field in half, so we get to play again, so I’ll take it.”

Trailing 27-15 with 1:34 left in the first half, Muniz's layup and three free throws by Ashley Rhoades, who finished with 11 points, narrowed the margin to seven points at intermission.

“That made it manageable,” McIntyre said.”Yeah, we were a little bit worried. Early in the year we won a tournament and in two of the three games we were down 17-5. You’ve just got to play through it, and our kids were able to play through it. We win games with defense, heart and desire.”

Added Muniz: “It was important to get those last five points because we had some momentum going in (to the locker room). We play like it was our last game, because it could be. We didn’t get down on ourselves. We just kept our thoughts good.

“In the back of your mind you feel like, ‘Oh no, this could be the end. But I don’t want to believe that. I’m not just going to be like, ‘We’re down, so we’re going to lose.’

“But slowly and surely we came back. We just stuck together.”

“I just thought we stayed positive,” said guard Tracy Foserling. “We say it every time before the game. And in this game we really sucked it up and played as a team.

“I was nervous. I never played at The Pit before, and I really wanted to. But when I got out there it was like O.K. …” followed by a nervous giggle.

In addition to Muniz’s offense, a minor defensive adjustment made a difference, too. McIntyre said Rio Rancho’s guards were extending out too far, leaving short passing lanes the Tigers could use to their advantage. Alamogordo on several occasions in the first half made 10 or more passes on a possession and even when they missed had several players in rebound position.

“They ran some things that I didn’t see on tape,” McIntyre said. “They ran a short corner (play) that we had trouble covering and they were hitting that little baseline jumper. We kind of packed it in and stayed more patient, and the ball game right to us. We felt like they might do that

“Once we got the lead and control of the game, a lot more of those passes came right into our hands.

With the guards sagging in the third quarter, Alamogordo was only able to attempt five shots in the period and was outrebounded 6-3 after dominating early in the game. Rio Rancho continued to play strong on the boards in the final quarter and ended up with a 32-26 advantage.

“We figured that you can’t take everything away, and if we’re going to get beat in this building then let get beat on the outside,” McIntyre said. “We were more concerned coming into this game about rebounding with this team. We rebounded really well and we took care of the ball. A couple of times we had unforced turnovers against their press, but all-in-all our kids handed their pressure and seemed to know when to attack and when not to attack.”

Added Rhodes, who led he team with five rebounds, “We knew coming in we had to rebound. Being a jumper myself, I knew I had to pick it up and rebound more.”

Rio Rancho finally went ahead of Alamogordo on two Muniz free throws with 7.4 seconds left in the third quarter. Alamogordo had as much as a three-point lead in the final quarter, but each time Muniz had the answer.
 
Her shorter floater in the lane gave Rio Rancho the lead for good at 40-39 with 4:07 left in the game, and a three-pointer and two free throws made it six with 3:42 left. Alamogordo's last basket, a three-pointer by lightning quick point guard Christian Veasley with 1:17 left cut the margin to three, but Muniz responded with two free throws and the Tigers did not score the rest of the way.

“When Megan gets on a roll like that, it’s like ‘Here you go,” said Fosterling, who made a sideway shoveling motion toward Muniz while making her comments.

Said Muniz: ”I don’t think I’ve had 16 in a row before. It felt like I was on, but it didn’t feel like 16 in a row. But it worked.”

Veasley, who led Alamogordo with 13 points, forced Rio Rancho to abandon its zone late in the game to prevent another three-pointer. And to round out her day, Muniz blocked her final short to set up another Rams’ visit to the free throw line in the final 30 seconds.

“Megan’s got some hops,” McIntyre joked with his point guard at his side at the post-game news conference.

Alamogordo led 12-8 at the end of the first quarter and built up a 12-point lead at 27-15 lead on Lydyarie Feliciano's basket with 1:34 left in the half. The Rams rallied before intermission with five straight points before intermission on a Muniz layup and three free throws by Rhodes.

Muniz was the only player to score in double figures in the first half with 10 points. Eight different players scored for Alamogordo in the first 16 minutes, led by Sarah Ellison with six points and Ashley Godfrey and Veasley with five points each.

Alamogordo seemed to dominate the inside play, with 20 rebounds and three baskets that came off missed shots. The Rams were also hurt by missed free throws, where they were 5-of-10 compared to 4-of-6 by Alamogordo.

Rio Rancho shot just 32 percent (7 of 22) from the field in the first half compared to 44 percent (11 of 25) for Alamogordo.

Rio Rancho will play second seeded Eldorado, a 51-37 winner over Hobbs late Thursday. The other semifinal matches top-ranked La Cueva, which eliminated Sandia 63-54 on Thursday, against Las Cruces.

“Eldorado is just a quicker, better version of Alamogordo, to be honest with you,” McIntyre said. “They’re supposed to be tough games, but we’ll show up and give it a go.”

Rio Rancho advanced to the quarterfinal round with a hard-fought 39-30 victory over Clovis in the first round on Friday night. Alamogordo, meanwhile, ousted Rio Grande 58-44 in opening-round play.

Alamogordo came into the game with a 23-6 record, having finished 6-2 in district play behind Las Cruces High. The sixth-seeded Tigers then defeated Mayfield in the district tournament before falling to Las Cruces, which is seeded fifth in the state tournament and upset No. 4 Cibola 43-39 earlier Thursday.

ALAMOGORDO (44)
Ashley Johnson 1-3 1-3 3; Sarah Ellison 2-2 2-2 6; Christina Veasley 5-9 1-2 13; Savannah Stockton 1-4 0-0 2; Ashley Jelly 1-5 2-2 5; Sharae Hilliard 1-3 0-0 2; Scostia Peterson 0-0 0-0 0; Ashley Godfrey 2-4 1-3 7; Lydyarie Feliciano 1-2 0-0 2; Samantha Dodson 0-2 0-1 0; Jamie Harris 0-0 0-0 0;   Brandi Tanner 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 16-39 9-13 44.

RIO RANCHO (54)
Talisa Puentas 0-1 0-0 0; Tracy Fosterling 2-5 5-9 9; Ashlynn Steffensen 1-1 0-0 2; Megan Muniz 8-14 7-8 26; Shelby Pendley 0-1 0-0 0; Amanda Solwick 0-1 0-0 0; Courtney Solwick 0-0 0-0 0; Allison Anderson 0-0 0-0 0; Angelina Donnell 0-0 0-0 0;  Ashley Rhoades 3-8 5-8 11; Katie Crouch 0- 0-0 0; Kelsey Hawkins 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 17-38 17-27 54.

Alamogordo 12-15-07-10-44
Rio Rancho    08-12-15-19-54

Three-point goals: Alamogordo 3-12 (Johnson 0-1, Veasley 2-5, Stockton 0-1, Jelly 1-2, Hilliard 0-2, Godfrey 0-1), Rio Rancho 3-6 (Muniz 3-6).
Total fouls: Alamogordo 20 (Godfrey 5, Veasley 3, Ellison 2, Jelly 2, Johnson 1, Stockton 1, Hilliard 1, Peterson 1, Feliciano 1, Dodson 1, Harris 1, Tanner 1), Rio Rancho 14 (A. Solwick 3, C. Solwick 3, Fosterling 2, Steffensen 1, Muniz 1, Pendley 1, Rhoades 1, Crouch 1, Hawkins 1).
Total rebounds: Alamogordo 26 (Tanner 5, Johnson 3, Hilliard 3, Dodsen 3, Ellison 2, Stockton 2, Jelly 2, Veasley 1, Feliciano 1 plus 4 team ), Rio Rancho 32 (Rhoades 7, C. Solwick 6, Fosterling 5, Muniz 3, Pendley 2, A. Solwick 1, 8 team).
Assists: Alamogordo 4 (Johnson, Veasley, Jelly, Tanner 1 each), Rio Rancho 7 (Muniz 3, Rhoades 2, Fosterling 1, C. Solwick 1).
Turnovers: Alamogordo 16, Rio Rancho 12.
Total field goal percentages: Alamogordo 11-25, 44 percent, 1st half; 5-14, 36 percent, 2nd half; 16-39, 41 percent, game. Rio Rancho: 7-22, 32 percent, 1st half; 10-16, 63 percent, 2nd half; 17-38, 45 percent, game.
Three-point percentage: Alamogordo 1-5, 20 percent, 1st; 2-7, 29 percent, 2nd; 3-12, 25 percent, game.  Rio Rancho: 1-4, 25 percent, 1st; 2-2, 100 percent, 2nd; 3-6, 50 percent, game.
Free throws: Alamogordo 4-6, 67 percent, 1st; 5-7, 71 percent, 2nd; 9-13, 69 percent, game. Rio Rancho: 5-10, 50 percent, 1st; 12-17, 71 percent, 2nd; 17-27, 63 percent, game.
Points in the paint: Alamogordo 12, Rio Rancho 18.
Points off turnovers: Alamogordo 9, Rio Rancho 4.
Fast break points: Alamogordo 6, Rio Rancho 4.
Ties: 4.
Lead changes: 4
Officials: Leon Lopez, Danny Lujan, Jake Martinez.