The moment Jenine Coriz took her eyes off of her defender was the moment Kayla Herrera struck.

The St. Michael's senior point guard saw Coriz lose the handle of her dribble as she started forward, and Herrera's right hand pick-pocketed the Santa Fe Indian School sophomore.

Then 45 feet of open court belonged to her.

Herrera's breakaway layup and ensuing free throw on a foul with 25 seconds left finished a Lady Horsemen comeback from a 12-point deficit for a 34-32 lead.

It led to a 36-32 win in District 2AAA girls basketball in Francis L. Abeyta Memorial Gymnasium on Friday night.

The win kept St. Michael's in second place in the district at 6-2 and 18-6 overall.

It also was the second straight game the Lady Horsemen avoided a disturbing road loss.

Two days earlier, they rallied from 11 points down to pull off a 44-42 win at Las Vegas Robertson. It was an impressive pair of feats for a team not built for comebacks.

"It shows their desire and their will to want to win," St. Michael's head coach Martin Romero said.

And he feels few have a desire that matches Herrera. She had two steals in the final 2 minutes, and her 3-pointer from the top of the key at 1:27 brought the Lady Horsemen to within 32-28.

She finished with six points, but they all were perfectly timed.

"I always thought we could do it (rally) at any moment," Herrera said. "Once I stole it and got the foul, that changed the momentum to our side and that got the Indian School a little rattled."

But was it as much a game St. Michael's won or one that the Lady Braves (13-11, 2-6) gave away?

The answer was simple for SFIS head coach Cindy Roybal.

"Merry Christmas," Roybal said as she headed to the locker room. "We gave that one away."

The Lady Braves' gift wrapping began at the 4-minute mark, when they began to stall to kill time with a 32-20 lead.

The goal was to spread St. Michael's out, then attack the basket with drives. But the Lady Horsemen countered with a full-court man-to-man press, with Herrera sticking to Coriz like glue.

What followed were five turnovers — two on five-second inbound violations — and one missed shot.

"Our denial defense was exceptional," Romero said. "It caused them some trouble. I spent all game searching for something that was going to work, but they sucked it up and stepped up the intensity."

Everything was going the Lady Braves' way until that point. Using a 1-2-2 zone defense, the Lady Braves dared St. Michael's to shoot from the outside, and it did — horribly.

The Lady Horsemen hit just six of their first 25 shots, and 6-foot-3 post Sara Hattis was invisible with just a putback to open the scoring in the first quarter.

The inside quartet of April Johnston, Mariah Elote and LeKesha Padilla each had six points through the first three quarter.

Then Lady Braves reserve Miranda Medina got into the act in the fourth with a pair of layups, including one at the 4:04 mark that proved to be the last points for SFIS.

And Romero empathized with Roybal. She's not the only one.

"You know, the Robertson coach (Aunna Roanhaus) probably feels the same way," Romero said.