Lady Aztecs take down Highlanders
By Anissa Campa and Eliza Apodaca
Aztec Gold Online

After a 2-2 record from the tournament in Colleyville, Texas, the Lady Aztecs defeated the Bel Air Highlanders.

Going into the first period, Adeola Akomalafe had four points followed by two points from both Ciara Fields and Stephanie Cordova. With 54 seconds left in the period, the Aztecs were down 8-10. That was when freshmen guard, Thalia Watters, scored two points ending the first period in a tie 10-10.

Second period began and Akomalafe scored two points to bring the Aztecs up. With 6:20 left in the half, the score was 11-12. Aztecs were down by one but Cordova hit a three to give the Aztecs the lead 14-12. With 4:46 to go in the half, the game was tied. With 1:45 seconds to go, Latrice Washington went for a lay-up, was fouled and made the basket to bring the Aztecs up 19-16. With 10 seconds left, the Highlanders made a basket to be 19-18.

“I honestly felt like we were going to pull it off because we have a good team. We just needed to pick it up more and we did,” said senior forward Stephanie Cordova. “We had momentum and we just finished off strong.”

Going into the second half with the lead, it was easy for the Lady Aztecs to stay on top. Throughout the third period, they were able to keep a substantial lead with Akomalafe, Fields and Rebecca Davila scoring in this period. As the game progressed, the Aztecs continued to score. Fields ended the third period with a three, bringing the score to 35-27.

To begin the fourth quarter, the Aztecs were 35-27 with 6:16 seconds to the game. Shot after shot, the Highlanders kept making buckets to get the Highlanders 39-36 with only 3:15 seconds. Latrice Washington hit a three-pointer to get the Aztecs motivated with the score being 42-36. The Highlanders then put two shots up to make the score 42-38. At 1:45 seconds left, the Highlanders kept fouling to stop the clock but couldn’t catch up to the Aztecs. The final score was 48-41.

“Together as a team we struggled, but we pushed through. We started off slow, but we ended up picking it up and pulling through with the win,” said Team Captain Ciara Fields.