Moose upset Falcons on the road

Alamosa junior Lilly Lavier (00) looks for real estate against Centauri's Brenna McDaniel (14). Lavier led Alamosa in scoring on Friday night with 12 points. (Courier photo by Stephen Jiron)

LA JARA — With both teams having fallen to Intermountain Leader Pagosa Springs. Friday’s game served as a preview of what it might be like to try and earn the second playoff spot come district tournament time.

Thirteenth ranked Alamosa scored the upset on the road defeating No. 5 Centauri 37-35. 

The Mean Moose (10-4) entered Friday’s game having won 5 of their last 6, only succumbing to the aforementioned Pagosa Springs Pirates (11-2). Prior to Friday night Centauri (10-3) had a similar streak and similar faults. Winners of 6 of their last 7 the Falcons also dropped a contest to Pagosa Springs.

Defense would prevail early Friday night, Alamosa struck first going ahead 2-0. That score would stand for the next six minutes until Centauri’s Melissa Wilson put the Falcons on the board. From there both teams would start scoring, the Moose taking an 11-8 lead into the second quarter.

Alamosa hit the ground running in the second quarter with a 13-0 streak capped by a three-point play from Kelly Castillo and two free throws from Lilly Lavier. Lavier would lead the Moose in scoring with twelve points in the win.

Centauri’s Mia Garcia would stop the bleeding for the Falcons with a basket but was unable to capitalize on the accompanying free throw. Two points from Garcia and four from McKenna Bagwell and Centauri escaped a dismal second quarter trailing 24-14.

Coming back from the break Alamosa’s Alma Martinez would score inside for the Moose.

Then it was Centauri’s turn to go on a scoring run. After missing shots and being out rebounded in the second quarter the Falcons took advantage of takeaways and fast breaks to string together 9 unanswered points to pull within three.

A basket from Alamosa junior Taylor Motz and defense would prevail to bring the third quarter to a close, Alamosa leading 28-23.  Three minutes into the final quarter Centauri was trailing 32-26 that was when they would make one more push. A five point run and the Falcons were knocking at the door. Centauri sophomore Courtney Hamilton collected a rebound on a missed free throw and buried the put-back to give the Falcons their first lead of the game with a minute and a half to play.

A jump ball would give Alamosa possession where junior Devyn Mitchell would put the Moose back in the drivers seat with a shot from just inside the arc. Mitchell would later go to the free throw line and sink both to put Centauri in a box. Down by three points with a half a minute to play, any basket that dropped needed to be from three-point range.

Centauri’s Hamilton would release a lay-up and find the bottom of the net, but when the dust settled there were six ticks left and Alamosa had the lead and the ball. An intentional foul would save Centauri a couple seconds while Emily Lavier would hit one of her free throws to put Alamosa ahead 37-35. Advancing the ball up court would take three seconds leaving Centauri time enough for one more three-point attempt.

The inbound went to McKenna Bagwell on the near side, Bagwell hit three three-pointers in the contest and owned the team lead with 10 points. The Centauri junior was pounced on immediately by Devyn Mitchell. The shot never went aerial and time would expire to give the Moose their second win in a row.

Both teams will take turns facing Bayfield. Alamosa will host the Wolverines Saturday while Centauri is scheduled to meet the Wolverines Tuesday the 29th.