Volcano Vista wins the 5A State Championship
The Volcano Vista Hawks winners of the 5A New Mexico high school state basketball championship. #nmpreps
Volcano Vista Makes It Back-to-Back Titles
A lot was on the line tonight inside "The Pit" for Volcano Vista. They were going for their second straight 5A championship, the programs fifth overall, and finishing off an unbeaten season. They were facing a familiar foe in Hobbs who they played and beat a year ago. This time around however there was far less drama and no midcourt buzzer beating shot was needed as Volcano Vista easily coasted to a 49-32 win.
Afterwards Head Coach Lisa Villareal who now has the most state championships for a woman Head Coach in New Mexico girls’ basketball said, "Going undefeated is very special, it is not done very often. It's bittersweet knowing that these girls did it for us."
Leading the way was Jaelyn Bates who finished with a game high 18 points, 4 steals, and three assists. Right behind her was Taejhuan Hill who had a double-double scoring 12 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Hobbs put the first points on the board when Aniya Joseph scored, but Hill scored six straight for Volcano Vista and Bates capped the run with a three to make it 9-2 with 1:55 and the Hawks led 11-6 after one. Carolina Saiz hit two straight threes for Hobbs to make it 15-12 with just over five minutes left, but Volcano Vista closed the half with an 8-2 run to take a 23-14 lead into the halftime break. After Volcano Vista pushed the lead to 10 at 25-15 Hobbs got to 25-19 but Hill and Kennedy Brown scored on consecutive possessions to reestablish a 10-point lead.
Over the last five minutes the Hawks tightened the screws defensively and Hobbs only scored two points the rest of the way. Bates ended the 11-2 quarter closing push for Volcano Vista with a three-pointer and it was 36-21 heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth, Hobbs was unable to get any closer than 14-points as Volcano had a answer for every Eagles score as they went on to close out the game and finish the season a perfect 29-0.
