By Glen Rosales
Special to the SUN

Gallup High School can be a madhouse for opposing girls basketball teams, especially during the state tournament.

Pojoaque Valley found that out the hard way Friday as the No. 15 Elkettes took it on the chin in a 68-38 loss in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs.

“We came out, I’d say, a little intimidated,” Pojoaque coach Bobby Romero said. “Not so much, but we came out unsettled. Once we settled in we did better, but that first quarter really killed us.”

The No. 2 Lady Bengals (25-4) opened the game with a 10-0 run, then taking a 24-8 at the end of the first quarter and Pojoaque (20-9) could never get back in the game.

“Gallup is great,” Romero said. “They came to play. And we didn’t quite, unfortunately. Our girls gave it our best effort. It was a good experience for us to see that level of basketball but we just couldn’t make any buckets at the beginning of the game. Their press didn’t hurt us; we just didn’t make our shots.”

The Elkettes seemed a bit off from the get-go, the coach said.

“It felt like we played out of rhythm,” he said. “I felt like the girls, I don’t know if they got a little excited because of the state tournament, but they weren’t running our offense. They were playing out of sync.”

Pojoaque actually hit 38% of its shots inside the 3-point arc, but from outside, the Elkettes were 0-12. And it certainly didn’t help matters that Gallup hit an other-worldly 25 of 37 (68%) on 2-pointers.

“They just played a one-one-three zone,” Romero said. “They pressed, but we were able to break their press, but in their one-one-three zone, we weren’t running our offense. We took some really bad shots.”

And that certainly could have been as much because of the environment off the court as the play on it.

“We dug a deep hole in the first quarter and I kind of feel like they were just over excited,” he said. “We hadn’t had a crowd that big the entire year. Go to Gallup and they pack it. Great atmosphere, playing a great team. It’s a different environment than we’re used to seeing and I think it took them by surprise. It took a while for settling in, longer than it should have.”

And by then, too much damage had been done.

“For the most part, once we settled in, we started doing OK, but by that time, we had dug ourselves too big of a hole to dig out of it,” Romero said. “In the first quarter, we didn’t put up very many points. But, it was a good learning experience for everyone.”

It was a position Pojoaque probably should not have been in as the Elkettes were a fixture throughout the season in the top 10 coaches polls and most seeding dynamics. But while struggling through some mid-season injuries, Pojoaque lost both of its regular season games to Española Valley, which caught fire for District 2 play to win the regular season title.

So under the New Mexico Activities Association seeding guidelines, that meant the Elkettes had to be placed behind Española.

Then three days before the game, NMAA officials announced they had not properly seeded the 4A bracket and had to shuffle slots, pushing the Lady Sundevils down to 14th and leaving Pojoaque 15th to face Gallup instead of 12th and visiting Valencia.

“I feel like if we had Valencia, we would have won that game,” Romero said. “It’s one of those situations where the cards did not fall in the right spot. It is what it is. Everyday is a learning lesson.”

Monique Arrietta led Pojoaque with 15 points and next on the list was Gerrianna Romero with seven.

“We had a great season, 20-9 overall, better than last year, “Bobby Romero said. “And we’re a young team, just one senior who started. I’m grateful for all the kids, they all worked hard and played as a team. You can’t complain. We were ranked eighth overall in 4A and 24th overall among all classes so to me, it’s a positive season and I’m proud of everything we accomplished.”