Photos by Stephen Jiron Adelia Romero (15) of Monte Vista chases down Emily Lavier (3) on a fast break. Both girls led their respective teams in scoring.

Team effort gets Alamosa girls a win

MONTE VISTA — Mean Moose girls’ basketball headed west on Saturday night to face fellow intermountain leaguer Monte Vista.  The Alamosa girls (7-3) made short work of the home team defeating Monte Vista (2-7) in a 64-25 win.  
This basketball season started on a sour note for the Moose with a loss to 2A opponent Sanford (6-3), since then Alamosa’s girls have put together a solid run with their next two losses coming to quality teams in 4A/5A class Montrose and fourth ranked 3A team Delta (8-1).
Looking forward for Alamosa it’s a mixed bag with concern to the Moose’s league schedule. While they have three league games on schedule against IML opponents ranked 42nd and below by RPI coming up, they also have four games against No. 3 Centauri (9-1) and No. 5 Pagosa Springs (7-2).
The Pirates entered Saturday’s contest on a low note with two straight losses coming at the hands of Centauri and Florence.
When action started, the fourteenth ranked Mean Moose took control immediately rattling off a 20 point first quarter with sophomores Terese Chavez and Emily Lavier combining for 13 points.
Down 20-4 to start the second quarter the Pirates would have their most productive quarter of the night with freshman Adelia Romero and Chevelle Garcia each burying a three-pointer, the Pirates would still trail at the half 37-15. Romero was Monte Vista’s leading scorer with 8 points on the night.
Coming back from the half Alamosa would resume the pressure, triggering the ‘sportsmanship’ rule with two and a half remaining in the third quarter. With a running clock the Mean Moose would pace Monte Vista all the way to the game’s 64-25 conclusion. Alamosa had five girls clear the ten point mark in Saturdays win. Emily Lavier lead Alamosa in scoring with three treys and 15 points.
Monte Vista will look to end the skid when they travel to Center (3-6) on Jan. 15, the game is slated for a 5:30 p.m. start. The win makes the third in a row for the streaking Mean Moose they’ll look to keep things going in game three of their five game road trip when they visit Montezuma-Cortez (3-5) on Jan. 18.

Hindered Pirates can’t keep up with Alamosa

By Stephen Jiron
MONTE VISTA — Saturday saw the Mean Moose face Monte Visa in Alamosa’s first league action. Alamosa (6-4) defeated the Pirates (3-6) by a score of 60-46.
Monte Vista Pirates took the court Saturday night against Alamosa without their No. 2 scorer and top rebounder in David Mascarenas. Despite that the Pirates didn’t waiver.
Brenden Crowther continued to take the sniper role in Alamosa hitting 66 percent of his long distance attempts to put up 10 of the Moose’s 18 points in the first quarter. Crowther would go on to lead the Moose in scoring with 3 three pointers and 17 points.
Darrius Garcia led the charge for Monte Vista in the second quarter going 2-for-2 on his shots from beyond the arc. Garcia would total 6 points and Monte Vista would outscore Alamosa 13-10 to trail by four points at the half.
Chad and Ian Jackson came on for Alamosa in the third stanza combining for 9 points. For Monte Vista it was Garcia and Andres Maestas combining for 8 points. Entering the final quarter Alamosa held a 40-35 advantage.
The final chapter was where Alamosa separated themselves going on a 14-5 run to open the gap to fourteen points with 3 minutes remaining. Another pair of three pointers in the fourth quarter from Garcia would not be enough to buoy the Pirates, giving Alamosa the 60-46 win. Garcia took the team lead for Monte Vista with 18 points.
The win puts Alamosa back on track after their loss to Pueblo East (8-5).  The Mean Moose will continue to test themselves when they go on the road to meet No. 7 Montezuma-Cortez (9-1) this Friday and No. 18 Pagosa Springs (6-4) on Saturday. Monte Vista will begin a busy week starting with a road game against Center (2-7) on Tuesday. The Pirates are then scheduled to follow that up with Bayfield (6-4) and Pagosa Springs.