ALBUQUERQUE — Before the tip-off of Friday's final of the Class AAA Girls State Basketball Tournament the New Mexico Activities Association honored West Las Vegas senior Linda Esquibel.

While she received a plaque and posed for the obligatory photos, the public address announcer read off Esquibel's high school accomplishments.

There was basketball, of course.

There were all those medals in track.

There was talk of music and academics, all of which helped Esquibel earn the Pursuing Victory with Honor Scholarship — she's going to The University of New Mexico.

It was fitting then that the Lady Dons multitasker faced, and nearly overcame, another juggling act during the pulse-rocking game.

Esquibel picked up her fourth foul with 2 minutes, 20 seconds to play in the third quarter. As one of the top players on a team lacking depth and trailing in the state final, it wasn't like Esquibel was going to sit.

"It's very difficult," said Esquibel after West Las Vegas' 56-50 loss to rival Santa Fe Indian School in The Pit. "You not only have to play careful and smart. You have to know where everyone's at and not to foul."

Then, there's the usual fatigue factor.

When asked if she planned to wear out or foul out as many Lady Dons as possible, Santa Fe Indian School head coach Cindy Roybal didn't hesitate.

"Absolutely," she said. "The last two times we played them we didn't press the way we did (Friday). And that was one thing that I focused on, I said, 'We've got to press. We've got to be aggressive. We've got to just run, run, run and we felt they were going to run out of steam.'

"I thought they were going to run out of steam before we went into overtime, but they held pretty tough."

Esquibel said she and her teammates weren't tired, but their body language and the fact they had played another overtime game in Thursday's semifinals, seemed to indicate otherwise.

The Lady Dons missed 5 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter and overtime, plus had several short shots rim off, both of which can be a result of fatigue.

Esquibel played the last 14 minutes and 20 seconds of game time strapped with those four fouls.

"That's awesome," said West Las Vegas head coach Jose Medina. "I give her credit. She has the composure and the understanding to be out there and still play hard but understand that she has four fouls but she has to stay in the game. We're going to miss her tremendously. She's an awesome athlete, she's led us for four years. We're going to miss her, but we know she's going to be successful at whatever she does."

Once that last foul was called, Roybal and her staff tried to get the Lady Braves to get Esquibel out of the game by attacking her.

"I just had to be careful," Esquibel said. "They were telling me, 'Don't help. We won't get beat.' "

Added Roybal: "We didn't really capitalize on her. They did a good job of hiding her."

And that nearly cost the Lady Braves the championship.

Esquibel (12 points) and Miranda Martinez (18 points) hit plenty of clutch shots, and Vanessa Lucero grabbed big rebounds and made defensive plays to help the Lady Dons erase a seven-point deficit.

With 2.5 seconds to play in the fourth quarter and the game tied, West Las Vegas got one last shot. The Lady Dons inbounded the ball beneath the Lady Braves' basket. Like they had done many times this season, Esquibel raced to the basket, hoping, like a wide receiver, to be the chasing defender to the ball.

She did and the pass was on target. Esquibel collected the ball and her feet near the corner, turned and fired a 3-pointer at the horn. The ball bounced off the rim twice before hitting the floor.

Overtime.

It was Santa Fe Indian School that made all the plays in overtime. As she left The Pit for the final time as a Lady Don, Esquibel had tears in her eyes, but she kept things in perspective.

"It was a great season," she said. "Of course, we'll all regret not winning this, but also we made history on our little town. It's overwhelming."