Trojans coast to win over Rams

Antonito's Maya Garcia (11) dribbles by JaeLea Maestas of Centennial (3) during Friday's Homecoming victory.

ANTONITO — For Homecoming night Antonito girls’ basketball (4-4) picked up a sound win over Centennial (2-9) by a score of 63-44.

Prior to Friday night Antonito had been in the midst of turning their season around after a 1-3 start. Antonito responded by going 2-1 in the following three games picking up a win over Mountain Valley-Moffat (6-2) in the process.

Centennial is fresh off splitting a two game series with league rival Creede.

Antonito got off to a hot start on Friday scoring seven unanswered points to take a 9-2 lead. Little seemed to go right for the Rams in the early going as Feliziana Lobato collected one basket and JaeLea Maestas tallied a basket and a free throw for a team total five points in the first quarter. A total eclipsed by Antonito’s Brianna Martinez with 9 points off a good field attempt, a three-pointer and hitting four-of-four free throw attempts.  Martinez would go on make good on 50 percent of her attempts from the field and lead Antonito with 17 points for the night.

The total after one quarter was 18-5 in Antonito’s favor. Eleven points from the combination of Martinez and Shandiin Tallman reinforced the immense pressure the Trojans were applying in the second quarter. Antonito would lead going to the break by a score of 35-14. Entering the third quarter the Rams were staring down a 21-point deficit. Before the game hit the pivot point of spilling over into a ‘sportsmanship’ finish Centennial began to act. Having their most productive quarter of the game thus far. Adelia Romero and JaeLea Maestas would each contribute four points to a 12-point total in the third quarter.

The final stanza opened with Antonito holding a commanding 52-26 lead. Centennial’s Maestas exploded, accounting for 14 of the Ram’s 18 points in the final 8 minutes. Maestas took the scoring title for Centennial with 26 points to produce almost 60 percent of the Ram’s offense. The fourth quarter rush was not enough and Antonito claimed a 63-44 win.

Antonito freshman Shiinei Tallman kept up her rebound numbers with 12 total boards on the night. Shiinei’s season average is 12.1 rebounds per game and is good enough to place fourteenth in the state.

Antonito is scheduled to go on the road to face Sangre de Cristo (8-1) Saturday night, tip off is listed as 6 p.m. Centennial will go back home for their Saturday afternoon game against Manzanola (0-8). The festivities are scheduled for 2 p.m start.