ALAMOSA -  For senior night the Mean Moose basketball squads welcomed rival Bayfield to Alamosa.  On an emotional night the Moose dispatched the Wolverines in both games as both schools are starting to gear up for district tournaments. Alamosa’s girls breezed to a 42-21 game while the boys locked in a dogfight escaping with a 41-39 victory.

Coming into this game Alamosa’s girls (12-7-0) were on a bit of a downswing trucking through a tougher portion of their schedule. With losses to Centauri and Pagosa they faced top flight talent in St. Mary’s culminating in three losses. Before the action kicked off Alamosa senior and honorary captain Alexys Miller was given an opportunity to take the court for the final time in her high school career. Miller has been struggling through knee injuries and surgeries and was given the opportunity to represent Alamosa on senior night.

Alamosa started their final endeavor with two of their high scorers in Lily Lavier and Sylvie Caton resting as Alana Hackett and Katie Parkins would take the wheel. Hackett and Parkins combined for 12 points in the first quarter to take Alamosa to a 19-4 lead after one quarter of play. Both girls would tie for the team lead in scoring with 12 points each. Hackett would collect her 12 while hitting 3 treys. After the offensive boom in the first quarter Alamosa fell silent for the remainder of the three quarters averaging under 8 points in the final three quarters.

Fortunately they would bottle up the Wolverines whose strongest offensive production came in the final quarter where they outscored Alamosa by one point 9-8.

The boys were playing for a first round bye come district tournaments as Alamosa had an 8-1 district record, Bayfield was only a game back. Neither team was willing to budge. Alamosa worked at a steady pace all game long while Bayfield was slow at first and relied on a boom to make it close. Noah Romero was a rock during Thursday night’s contest putting up steady points all game long. With two 3’s Romero totaled 8 points in the first quarter. Romero would cap his day with a team leading 17 points.

After trailing the Moose through one Bayfield would strike back with a huge 18 point second quarter to take a 23-22 advantage into the break. At the start of the fourth Alamosa trailed Bayfield in a 31-29 contest.

With tournament seeding hanging in the balance Alamosa started their march by tying the game at the 33 mark. The Moose proceeded to chase Bayfield all the way to the end of the fourth quarter to a 39-39 game. With the final possession Romero drove the lane and drew a foul with a second to play burying both to put Alamosa ahead by a nose.

The Alamosa girls will start their district tournament with a home game against Monte Vista Tuesday Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. with the opportunity to go on the road and face Pagosa Springs on Friday. Alamosa’s boys will await a winner from Centauri at Montezuma-Cortez on Feb. 2 with the resulting winner traveling to Alamosa for a Friday game.

Caption: Noah Romero (2) extends a prayer with Turner Kennedy (30) of Bayfield in tow during the final second of Alamosa’s victory. Romero was fouled on the play and would make both free throws to put Alamosa ahead 41-39 the final score./Photo courtesy Aaron Parrill