By STEPHEN JIRON

Courier Sports Editor

ALAMOSA — Donning their alternate pink uniforms for breast cancer awareness Alamosa girls’ basketball picked up the ‘W’ at home over the visiting Pirates 59-12.

Prior to Friday’s game the Mean Moose (12-4) had lost only one of their last 8 games, to the No. 3 team in 3A girl’s basketball Pagosa Springs. Monte Vista (3-11) was on the other end of the spectrum on a 3 game skid dropping 6 of their last 7.

Alamosa offered no quarter to the ailing Pirates. From the outset Alamosa ran a press defense bottling Monte Vista up. The press played directly in to Alamosa’s strengths giving junior Lilly Lavier a chance to flex her pick pocketing skills. Lavier holds the 19th spot in the state averaging 5.1 lifts per game.

At the end of one quarter Alamosa had only allowed one basket to the visitors while claiming a 16-2 lead. Alamosa senior Alma Martinez posted 7 points in the second quarter to propel the Moose to a 34-4 lead at the half. Early in the third quarter Alamosa’s Martinez would hit two free throws to trigger a running clock.

Despite the commanding lead and a running clock neither team would pull starters in the third quarter freeing junior Lavier to add a few more buckets to her total giving her a team leading 18 points. 

After 3 quarters it was a 57-8 advantage for the Mean Moose, which resulted in the reserves taking the court. Two points from each Hannah Jones and Haley Bernal for a four point  fourth quarter matched the highest output of the Pirates in any of the quarters previous. Senior Faith Hernandez led Monte Vista in scoring with a three-pointer in the third quarter.

The win puts the Moose on a four game winning streak. Saturday afternoon Alamosa will look to make it five in a row when Montezuma-Cortez (5-8) comes to town. Monte Vista’s weekend will seem to only get steeper as they will go on the road Saturday afternoon to face the third ranked Pagosa Springs Pirates (13-2).