RRHS girls advance in state tournament

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

On a night when 10 seniors on the top-ranked Rio Rancho girl’s basketball team played their last home game, Courtney Solwick made sure it wasn’t their last game of the season.

The senior post player scored six of the Lady Rams’ first eight points of the game as RRHS blew out Manzano 58-30 in the first round of the 2009 state tournament.

Solwick, an undersized post player at 5-9, has done most of her work as a defender and rebounder this season for the 26-2 Lady Rams. But Solwick’s medium-range jumpers opened up the floor for the team’s leading scorers, Megan Muniz and Tracy Fosterling, who finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively, in a little more than three quarters of play.

Scoring from Solwick, who finished with 11 points, and Ashlynn Steffensen, who chipped in seven points, made it difficult for Manzano to double team the pair of scoring guards. It took RRHS 56 seconds to score its first basket – a layup by Solwick – against Manzano’s defense, and the Lady Monarchs managed to tie the game at 2, 4 and 6.

Solwick’s third basket of the quarter gave Rio Rancho the lead for good at 8-6 with 3:52 left in the period. From that point on Manzano’s offense, which made only two turnovers in the first four minutes of the game, began to struggle against the Lady Rams’ press.

Rio Rancho forced three more turnovers before the end of the period and began to convert easy baskets. Solwick’s last score of the quarter triggered a 14-4 run that gave Rio Rancho a 20-10 lead at the break, and the lead was never less than double figures the rest of the game.

Even though Rio Rancho managed just eight points in the second period, it still gained ground as Manzano scored only two points – both on free throws. The Lady Monarchs went without a field goal from 1:59 of the first period to 6:17 of the third, a gap that allowed Rio Rancho to build up a 20-point lead early in the second half.

The margin grew to 29 points at 50-21 midway through the last quarter, ironically on Solwick’s last basket of the game, before substitutes from both teams finished the game.

Will be updated with quotes.