Lady Dons get even at RHS

Last time these teams met — 11 days hence, to be exact — Robertson played every bit the spoiler, hanging around all game and then grabbing a big road win in the closing seconds.

This time around, West Las Vegas’ girls did enough to prevent a repeat of that Feb. 5 result. And the Lady Cardinals’ poor shooting certainly played a role as well.

West won 40-32 on Monday night at Mike Marr Gym, evening the season series with its cross-town rival and clinching third place in District 2-3A with a 5-4 record. Robertson slipped to 4-5 and likely will finish fourth in the regular season standings.

One game remains for both schools. RHS hosts Santa Fe Indian and WLV plays at St. Michael’s; both games are Thursday evening.

The Lady Dons struck first on Monday and never relinquished the lead. Slipping into a zone defense, West seemingly dared the Lady Cardinal shooters to hit from the perimeter. With few exceptions, however, they could not. In truth, it was a difficult evening all told for a Robertson offense that had been hot in the first East-West game and again Friday at Raton.

Kassandra Tapia had the only RHS field goal in the first quarter as West took a 9-5 lead.

Robertson closed to within 11-9 on a Brooke Knezevich drive and two free throws by Kim Mares. But WLV’s Vanessa Lucero nailed a long deuce from the left wing to answer. She and Kristen Encinias combined to score 10 points in the second period, and the Lady Dons were up 23-16 as the buzzer brought the first half to a close.

West’s zone helped to keep Robertson from making any sort of run in the third period. Knezevich accounted for all four of the home team’s points, and the visitors grew their lead to 31-20 over a defensive quarter.

Lucero hit a jump shot off an inbounds assist from Miranda Martinez to start the fourth quarter, giving the Lady Dons their largest lead at 33-20.

Mares hit the first of two three-pointers to cut the margin to 10, and the Lady Cards twice got the gap down to seven. But on this night, even free throws were hard to come by for RHS, and West secured the victory.

Martinez led all scorers with 13 points. Lucero had 11, Encinias 8, Linda Esquibel 7 and Krystle Montaño 1 for WLV.

Mares was Robertson’s high-point player with 10. Knezevich added 8, Daniella Montoya 6, Tapia 4, Jamie Allen and Marka Garcia 2 apiece.

Pojoaque sits atop the standings with an 8-0 record; St. Mike’s is second at 6-2. Santa Fe Indian trails Robertson at 2-6; Raton is 0-8.