For the first three quarters, the Lady Panthers of Peñasco struggled with pressure.

It was Mesa Vista's turn in the fourth.

Peñasco trimmed a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to one, but it could not gain the upper hand as the Lady Trojans eked out a 65-62 girls basketball win in District 3AA play at Ojo Caliente on Tuesday.

The Lady Panthers used the turnovers to get to the free-throw line, and connected on 13 of 15 in the fourth. But Mesa Vista (17-4 overall, 2-1 3AA) hit five of eight from the line and mixed in a pair of turnovers in the final three minutes.

"We got our press going again, and that got us some steals and layups," Mesa Vista head coach Richard Montoya said. "We were using a lot of legs before so we had to go off of that."

Mesa Vista held a 34-29 lead at the half and outscored the Lady Panthers 16-14 in the third for 50-43 entering the final eight minutes. The Lady Trojans were efficient on offense as four of their five starters reached double figures in points.

Muriah Dean had 14 points, Carmelita Trujillo scored 13, Laura Lopez added
11 and Stephanie Gallegos had 10.

"We were moving the ball around real well," Montoya said. "We were going inside, then back out. Whatever we needed, it was working."

Jasmin Manzanares had 14 points to lead Peñasco, while Alexandra Trujillo added 13 and Kim Vigil 11.

Pecos 53, Santa Fe Preparatory 37

The Blue Griffins cut into a 25-11 halftime deficit and got to within six points of the Lady Panthers, but they had no answer for Yeshemabet Turner in a District 4AA contest in Louis G. Sanchez Memorial Gymnasium.

The sophomore Turner had 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Pecos (13-10 overall, 2-1 4AA) upped the lead to 40-23 heading into the fourth quarter. She trailed Desiree Sena, who had 19, for team-high scoring honors. Kimberly Armijo had 12 assists.

"I think we played a pretty decent game in the beginning, but we kind of laxed on defense and we didn't play very good half-court defense," Pecos head coach Benny Gallegos said. "What got us going on scoring was our press.

"I credit the girls for working hard and scoring off the press. Prep didn't give up."

Prep head coach Janelle Haught credited the guard play of Marissa Naranjo and Ali MacKenzie for creating turnovers that led to transition basket during Prep's run.

"We were able to get Pecos to turn the ball over," Haught said. "We just need to be more consistent about it."

Ehrl led the Blue Griffins (1-19, 1-2) with 20 points and she grabbed 18 rebounds. Naranjo added 10.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Española Valley 91, Taos 44

Donovan Maldonado broke out of a shooting slump with nine 3-pointers as he scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Sundevils to their third straight District 2AAAA win in Edward Medina Gymnasium.

Española (20-4 overall, 5-1 2AAAA) jumped out to a 43-26 lead at the half, then outscored Taos 22-12 in the third. That was followed by a 26-6 advantage in the fourth to close out the game.

Daniel Archuleta had 14 points for the Sundevils, while Rodney Coles and Fabian Valdez each added 10 as all 12 players scored.

Taos was led by Josh Romero's 14 points, and Alejandro Rodriguez scored 10.