By Glen Rosales
Special to the SUN

Top-seeded Mesa Vista turned in a workmanlike performance Friday in the opening round of the girls Class 2A state basketball tournament.

It really took until the third quarter for the host Lady Trojans (26-2) to get rolling against Hozho Academy (16-13) in a 62-31 win.

“It was a solid effort, a team effort,” Mesa Vista coach Jesse Boies said. “It’s the best team involvement that we’ve had all season. We had a lot of girls step up and do scoring. A lot of girls were ready for the moment.”

Early on, however, the Lady Trojans were just kind of getting warmed up.

“I felt both teams on Friday night were feeling each other defensively and felt each other’s vibes,” Boies said. “The second quarter, we came out a little more aggressive and got our transition game going. In the third and fourth quarters, we just rolled. Got steals and transition layups and we were on the run again.”

What the Lady Trojans do perhaps better than anybody at this level is play gritty, in-your-face defense and the Lady Wolves simply could not handle the pressure.

“Defense sets the tone for us,” Boies said. “These days, you don’t see many teams that love to play defense. My daughter (Aaliyah Boies) and Bella (Isabella Gallegos), they like playing defense more than playing offense. They’re just defensive-minded players. I preach that. Offense wins fans, defense and rebounding wins championships.”

And it’s thoroughly by design.

We work on that at practice,” he said. “A good majority of our practice is defense. They know it’s going to create easy transition layups and easy transition points.”

Mesa Vista finished with 11 deflections and 25 steals, with Aaliyah Boies and Valery Martinez each snaring seven.

Offensively, it was time for Aubrey Maestas to shine as she scored 23 points to go along with six assists.

“She had a good game,” Jesse Boies said. “She showed why she’s one of our captains. She did good stuff that night. Her and Aaliyah and Valery lead our offensive scoring, and she stepped up big time. We haven’t seen that kind of scoring out of her in a month or so.”

But that’s the way the Lady Trojans operate.

“That’s way our team is built right now,” Jesse Boies said. “Our motto throughout the season has been ‘always you, always me and it’s always going to us.’ And the girls have taken to that serious. Aubrey picked it up and Janessa (Sandoval) picked up. It fell into place like that. We’re pretty deep like that. Sometimes, when someone might be off, some other girls will pick it up.”

On this night, Sandoval, who got a late to start to the season because of an injury, had nine points, second best on the team. And Aayilah Boies had eight points to go along with eight assists. Jordyn Serrano added her touch my grabbing nine rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

The Lady Trojans next played No. 9 Jal (18-11), which beat host No. 8 McCurdy (21-10) 48-41. Lady Bobcats coach Mel Martinez did not respond to requests for information about the game.

But with Mesa Vista, the sights are set on playing at 5 p.m. Friday in The Pit for the state championship, something the program has never done.

“To beat this team, you have to go all 32 minutes,” Jesse Boies said of his squad. “You have to play all the way to the final buzzer. The starters, they don’t want to sit. I’ll sit them down for a minute and they’re ready to go back in. That’s great for me. I don’t have to leave them on the bench too long.”

And the message he’s given his girls is pretty simple.

“We told them we need all of you girls to do what you do best, all together in these next three games,” Jesse Boies said. “They all need show up on the same night and do what they do.”