Whether it was a St. Michael's surge or a Las Vegas Robertson breakdown is anyone's guess.

But what it turned out to be was a great — and typical — District 2AAA girls basketball battle Wednesday.

St. Michael's won 44-42.

"What made it nice is that this is a tough place to play and we knew Robertson was playing a lot better," St. Michael's head coach Martin Romero said of the road victory.

"I told the girls after the game that we played well enough to win, and we played hard and aggressive," Robertson head coach Aunna Roanhaus said. "St. Michael's is a good team, we just didn't come with a win."

The difference might have been Tamara Quintana.

The junior guard from St. Michael's scored a game-high 20 points, including the game-winner.

With 20 seconds left in the game, Jamie Velasquez got a steal, passed to Kayla Herrera, who passed to Quintana, who got the game-winning layup.

Following a Robertson timeout, Sarah Hattis blocked the Lady Cardinals' last shot, her third of the game.

"Tamara hit three threes in the fourth quarter and two, two-pointers in the fourth quarter," Romero said of Quintana's 13, fourth-quarter points. "We were patient, and got open looks."

"We had a defensive breakdown on Quintana and she shot the lights out in the fourth quarter," Roanhaus said. "That was a big quarter for her.

"I thought we played outstanding in the fourth quarter, but maybe started to get a little too tentative. We didn't want to get away from our game as far as pushing the ball and pressing, but maybe we could've slowed it up."

St. Michael's improved to 17-6 overall, 5-2 in 2AAA. Robertson is 3-4 in the district.

Hattis finished with 12 points.

Cassandra Tapia had 15 points to lead the Lady Cardinals, while Brook Knezevich had 12 and Daniella Montoya 10.

Pojoaque 61, SFIS 48

The Lady Braves held a 14-12 lead after the first quarter, but a big six-point swing to open the second turned momentum to the Elkettes in a District 2AAA game in Francis L. Abeyta Memorial Gymnasium.

A Janelle Roybal 3-pointer gave Pojoaque (23-0 overall, 7-0 2AAA) a one-point lead, and she was fouled don the shot. Roybal missed the bonus free throw, but Ellen Cruz grabbed the offensive carom then scored on a putback. She also was fouled, and her free throw made it 18-14, Pojoaque.

"From that moment on, we just took off," Elkettes head coach Lanse Carter said.

Pojoaque held a 33-31 lead at the half, then outscored SFIS 24-17 in the second half.

Jackie Bartleson scored 18 points despite battling a pinched nerve, and Cruz finished with 17. Roybal, in her first start since returning to the team, added 12.

The Lady Braves (14-11, 2-5) were led by Jenine Coriz with 11 points.

Capital 50, Bernalillo 22

The Lady Jaguars left no breathing room for Bernalillo in their District 2AAAA blasting.

"We came out and played a pretty aggressive man (defense) and pressed on them," Capital head coach Ray Henderson said. "We just created a whole bunch of transition points for ourselves."

That's how Capital (7-15 overall, 4-2 2AAAA) led 22-2 after a quarter and 30-11 at the break.

"We played some pretty good ball in the first quarter," Henderson said. "We got everybody some playing time and it was a good district win."

Regina Ritchie led the Lady Jaguars with 11 points and Amy Tafoya and Sarah Romero each had 10.

West Las Vegas 49, Raton 31

When opportunity presented itself, the Lady Dons took advantage.

Against winless Raton, West Las Vegas could've taken the easy win against the only winless team in District 2AAA, but didn't.

"It was a good opportunity for me to get all my girls a lot of minutes and get my bench a little experience," West Las Vegas head coach Jose Medina said. "Now that we're at the end of the district and the tournaments are coming up, I'm going to need the bench."

So Medina cleared it and the Lady Dons (15-7 overall, 4-3 2AAA) won going away.

The Lady Dons led 21-8 at half and 42-18 entering the final quarter.

Vanessa Lucero led West Las Vegas with 15 points, Kristen Encinias had 12 and Linda Esquibel had 11.

Española Valley 59, Taos 56

It was a good night for Justine Vigil to score a season high.

Not only was it a District 2AAAA road game for the Lady Sundevils, but it was also time for a Lady Tiger surge — to the tune of a 30-point fourth quarter.

"Justine kept us in the game the whole night," Española Valley head coach Ron Drake said. "She scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. She was just on fire."

Española needed something to put out the flames caused by Sydney Swinehart. The Lady Tiger scored a game-high 31 points. Crystal Gonzales added 12.

Española (17-6 overall, 6-0 2AAAA) led 24-18 at half and 36-26 entering the final quarter.

"It was poise," Drake said. "We had a 13-point lead at one time and they cut it to one. And we hit some clutch free throws at the end."

Vigil added nine rounds, Melanie Vigil had 13 points and Megan Martinez had 11. Nisa Duran added 10 points, nine rebounds and five steals for the Lady Sundevils.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Mora 73, Monte del Sol 58

Keith Hyde's biggest night of the season also was one of his shortest.

His fifth foul with 3 minutes left in a key District 4AA game, left the Dragons without their go-to senior.

He left with a season-high 29 points, and Monte del Sol (10-13 overall, 1-2 4AA) was left with little hope of winning without him.

When Hyde departed, the Dragons trailed by just four points.

"We hung in there for a while," Monte del Sol head coach Jonathan Haack said. "We fought hard, but we need to work on some things like man to man defense and offense."

Aaron Vogel had 13 points for the Dragons and Dennis Mares had 11.

James Porter led Mora with 20 points, Tyler Martinez had 18 and Leo Paul Pacheco had 11.

Pecos 70, Santa Fe Preparatory 57

The Panthers are undefeated through the first half of the District 4AA, but that doesn't mean much.

"Right now, what's past is past and what tomorrow is, is Monte del Sol," Pecos head coach Clyde Sanchez said. "That's our next game (on Saturday). That's what we're looking toward. The 3-0 record is just a record, and we just want to continue on."

The Panthers (14-9 overall) made history with Prep mostly in the second half. Pecos led 30-25 at half, then outscored Prep 17-10 in the third quarter.

"We made adjustments at halftime and that's where we got them," Sanchez said.

Tim Baca scored 23 points to lead Pecos and Joseph Gonzales added 17.

Joel Van Essen led Prep (9-13, 0-3) with 24 points, Ryan Romero had 14 and Billy Scarborough added 11.

"We didn't do a good job of handling their pressure and Tim got out of control on us," Prep head coach Chris Chakeres said. "The two things we wanted to do, we weren't able to do. That's how it goes."

Mesa Vista 63, Peñasco 39

Not only did the Trojans limit the Panthers to their season-low in scoring, they also limited Peñasco to just eight points after halftime in the District 3AA game.

Eight points.

"The defense is unprecedented," Mesa Vista head coach Thomas Vigil said. "I really didn't pay attention to that until the final buzzer sounded. That was just the adjustments we made at halftime. Sometimes you hit as a coach and sometimes you miss."

This was definitely a hit.

The Trojans (20-3 overall, 3-0 3AA) trailed 31-29 at halftime, but turned the tables by going to a half-court trap defense instead of the full-court press the Panthers were ready for.

"We tried to protect the basket a little more instead of pressuring the ball and they weren't able to get the shots they are accustomed to getting. They just couldn't find an opening."

Frankie Giron led Mesa Vista with 23 points, Jamie Cruz had 14 and Adrian Coronado had 10. Esteban Trujillo had 10 rebounds for the Trojans.

Brandon Vigil and Brandon Gurule each had 12 points for the Panthers, who fell to 2-1 in 3AA.