Carefree Demonettes still dancing

Elmer Chavez may or may not have two left feet, but he’s dancing anyway — and he doesn’t care who sees it.

Now if he could just get his players to buy into his newfound carefree approach.

The Santa Fe coach, who advanced the Demonettes to the Pit for the first time since 1997 on Tuesday, anticipated his squad comprised of primarily underclassmen to have state-tournament jitters. So he decided to share this piece of advice he received from Clara Jean Drew, the widow of former NMSU coach Weldon Drew: “She sent me this text, ‘Tell the girls to dance as if no one was watching.’

“That was what we were trying to do — go out there … and not worry about all of the outside interference, and just play ball.”

That was exactly what his team did — as the No. 3-seeded Demonettes (25-3) cavorted, frolicked and pranced all over the floor of The Pit, en route to a wire-to-wire 45-38 win over No. 6 Valencia (20-9) on Tuesday in state quarterfinal action. Three Santa Fe players scored in double figures, including Kayla Herrera with 16; Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage, 14; and Jackie Martinez, 11. And the part of dancing like no one is watching, Martinez said, is also treating every space you occupy as your home floor.

“We’ve had home games and we’ve had away games — we just decided to treat this as our home,” Martinez said.

Martinez and Herrera combined for all eight points during an 8-1 opening-period run, which broke a 4-all tie to give the Demonettes the lead for good. Santa Fe, which went up 25-13 at the half, led by as many as 14 points before punching its ticket into Thursday semifinal round, where it will take on No. 2 Roswell. Now, Martinez is hoping that the tale of the 2012-13 Demonettes is just beginning.

“We were the underdog at first, now we’re the perfect story,” said Martinez, a junior, who as a freshmen played on a Demonettes squad that finished the 2009-10 season at 1-25. “We were at the bottom a few years ago, and now we’re at The Pit winning — it’s amazing. But we can’t let this all get too overwhelming — nerves will kill your game.”

LOS LUNAS 57, LOS ALAMOS 44: After midseason turmoil that resulted in two starters quitting the team and a coaching change, Erin Kirk wasn’t entirely sure what would happen with the rest of her senior season. So after No. 9 Los Alamos’ quarterfinal loss to No. 1 Los Lunas (26-4), there would be no tears — she said she was too proud of what she and her teammates accomplished to cry. “If you really look at, we should have been the 16th seed — not a top nine. It shouldn’t have happened,” said Kirk, who finished with 10 points and four rebounds. “But through how tight we were as a team, and us trusting each other and our new coach … we made this possible.”

And what also finally became possible for her was playing on the same floor as her older brother — former Los Alamos standout and current UNM sophomore Alex Kirk. “Just to say that I played on the same floor as my brother makes me proud,” she said.

ST. PIUS 71, ESPAÑOLA VALLEY 58: No. 5-seeded Española Valley’s state tournament run ended in the quarterfinals — and it has St. Pius sophomore Natalie Zamora to thank for that. The only thing that overshadowed Sundevils senior Lauren Quintana’s 26-point game would be Zamora’s inspired second half. The 5-foot-5 guard, who was held scoreless in the first half and recorded just six points in the third period, torched Española Valley (24-6) for 22 points in the final period alone to turn a three-point ballgame into a rout. The Sartans (20-8), who led just 24-22 at the half and 42-39 after the third period, outscored the Sundevils 29-19 in the final period to advance to Thursday’s semifinal contest against top-seeded Los Lunas.

“We shot horribly today — I don’t know if it was nerves or what,” said Española Valley coach Oliver Torres, whose squad went 17 for 57 from the field, including hitting just 1 of 19 from 3-point territory. “… But when we got behind, we had to start pressing. Any good team that’s aggressive, when they break the press, is going to end up with wide open layups and stuff — that’s what happened to us.”

SHIPROCK 52, TAOS 34: In Class 3A action, Tigers senior Marisol Martinez scored a team-high 13 points but it wouldn’t be enough to slow down the Chieftains — winners of now eight-straight contests, dating back to Feb. 2. No. 4 Shiprock (24-3) used an 11-2 run near the end the end of the second quarter to take a 25-17 halftime lead, before outscoring the Tigers, 27-17 in the final two periods.

“The story of the game was our turnovers and giving them second chances — we got killed on the boards,” said Tigers coach Robert Trujillo, whose squad committed 22 turnovers and were out-rebounded 44-25. “… Once they built that lead, at this level, it’s very hard to come back from.”

SANTA FE INDIAN SCHOOL 51, POJOAQUE VALLEY 41: Danielle Nelson had a double-double — 22 points and 12 rebounds — and teammate Bridget Lee finished with 12 points and eight rebounds to lead the Lady Braves to a much-anticipated rematch of last season’s state title game versus defending champion Lovington on Thursday at The Pit. “We’re going to have fans on the edge of their seats,” Nelson said. “… We just have to do what we’re told by our coach and we’ll do a good job.”

Against the Elkettes, SFIS coach Cindy Roybal said the gameplan was simple: “Stop (Cheyenne) Cordova and we win.”

Mission accomplished. Cordova was held to 1-of-11 shooting for two points, during a contest where the Lady Braves didn’t trail in the second half.