1A girls: Logan claims first state title since 2013

Logan has pretty much been the top dog in Class 1A girls basketball all season and the Longhorns lived up to that billing Saturday as they gained control of the state championship game against defending champ Roy/Mosquero over the final 10 minutes.

That’s when Longhorns senior point guard Desta Rose took over at the Pit, scoring nine of their final 18 points and adding two assists to spur No. 1 Logan (27-4) to a 48-36 win over the third-seeded Blue (26-4) and the team’s first state championship since 2013.

“I’ve been telling this group of girls forever, the most important thing is to love each other and if you do that, you can get anything done. We preach our culture, which is love, accountability, hard work, next play,” Logan coach Dustin Robertson said, pausing after love as the Longhorns players said the remainder in unison with him. “And they bought in. They do it to the best of their ability. … It took everybody to believe and everybody believed and just bought in.”

Rose, who is headed to Eastern New Mexico to play in the fall, finished with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Reese Hasie added nine points and seven boards while Aspen Casey had eight points and six rebounds for the Longhorns

“All these years of hard work finally paid off, so it’s pretty exciting,” Rose said. “It’s crazy.”

She drove the Blue crazy, drawing seven fouls, which contributed to Roy/Mosquero guard Constantza Covarrubias getting into foul trouble and eventually fouling out two minutes into the fourth quarter with 12 points. Roy/Mosquero post Tayla Proffitt scored 16 to go along with 12 rebounds.

“I think we played a good three quarters,” Blue coach Blair Clavel said. “It didn’t help that we lost our guard early in the fourth and I think we ran out of gas in the fourth quarter and I think that’s the difference. Losing our guard and running out of gas, otherwise, I think we would have been right there with them. Maybe. They’re a great team. Good shooting team, play great defense, so credit to them.”

This was the third meeting of the season between the teams and the Longhorns came out on top in each of them.

“We knew they weren’t as deep as us for sure. We felt that was a strength of ours all year,” Robertson said. “I just depend on all of these girls. It helps when they get into foul trouble. We didn’t change a lot other than just like with Roy, we’ve improved throughout the year.”

The game turned when the Longhorns cut down on the turnovers after halftime.

“I thought we took better care of the basketball,” Robertson said. “When they got in foul trouble, it made how I pressured a little bit easier. I could take my pick on what we wanted to use and being more effective. Our possessions were a lot better in the second half and we created more turnovers.”

Trailing 28-24, Logan ended the third quarter on an 8-1 run to take a 32-29 lead. An 8-0 run pushed the lead to 43-32 with three minutes remaining and the Blue could never recover.

“They were fearless,” Robertson said of his squad. “We’ve been preaching fearless all week and they bought in. They wanted it. I’m lucky. I’m lucky to coach these kiddos, for sure. But they work their butts off. They put the time in. They want it. They go hard. And a lot of blood, sweat and tears that went into this.”