Alvarado nets 23 as Lady Warriors win against Moriarty

Jazmine Alvarado put on a free-throw shooting clinic, and Socorro won its second straight game on Saturday as the Lady Warriors beat Moriarty 55-43.

Alvarado was sent to the line five times in the final eight minutes and was 9-of-10 to help keep the Lady Warriors out front in a tight game that wasn’t decided until the last minutes.

It was a roller-coaster ride as Socorro trailed 7-1 before going on a 9-0 run that included a pair of three-pointers by Alvarado and three points each by Ariana Crepsin and Faith Lucero.

The Lady Warriors lost steam in the second quarter and trailed 23-20 at the half, but a 10-5 third quarter put them back on top 30-28.

More than anything, it was Socorro’s defensive rebounding that kept them in the game.

“The girls played hard defense. That’s what I’ve been telling them the entire season — good things happen when you play defense. You have to stop the other team from scoring more points than you, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Socorro had several chances to have put the game out of reach earlier. “We were 21 for 40 from the free throw line, which was really tough. You have to find a way to score if you have so many opportunities,” Saenz said. “We could have gone into that second half up by 10 on free throws alone. Then they figured it out.”

With Alvarado feasting at the charity stripe, Lucero and Gonzales hit 5-of-7 free throws as Socorro held a 25-15 fourth-quarter advantage.

It was a great win, considering Socorro was without post Tamara Fowler (ill) and then lost Ariana Crespin and Tatjana Castillo in the fourth quarter due to fouls. Crespin drew a couple of fouls early, which meant reaching into an already depleted bench.

“Just the two fouls with Ariana at the very beginning put us in a tough spot because she’s our best ball handler,” Saenz said.

Adrianna Gutierrez and Thalia Acosta provided some significant minutes off the bench, and Alvarado’s 23-point performance drew some praise.

“Jasmine shot the best game of her life tonight. On Thursday, at practice, I told her, I don’t care how many shots you miss. You have to go on with the mindset that every shot you take is going in. If you miss it, your response afterward will impact the rest of your game, and I think that played big in her mind,” Saenz said.

The win sets up some confidence for the Lady Warriors, who will start a three-game road stint before starting District 3-3A action with a home game against Hatch Valley on Feb. 6. “At this point, I am hoping the girls are trust[1]ng the plays that we give them, and they go an execute them. We don’t want to force our possessions,” Saenz said. “That’s the biggest thing, I want them to take care of the basketball, control the tempo of the game and not let other teams take control and seize the momentum.”