Dexter nips Lady Rattlers in final seconds

Nayeli Cobos sank a free throw with 2.2 seconds left to lift the Dexter girls basketball team to a dramatic 40-39 victory Thursday over host Tucumcari that secured a regular-season district title for the Lady Demons.

Cobos' foul shot followed a clutch 3-pointer by Tucumcari's Alexus Lafferty with less than 10 seconds left that tied the game.

Dexter, 14-5 overall and 3-0 in Class 3A's District 4, took a two-game lead in the district standings and faces only a winless New Mexico Military Institute team before the district tournament begins next week.

Tucumcari (10-10, 1-2) had hoped to defeat Dexter to force a one-game playoff to determine a regular-season district champ. The Lady Rattlers' losing margin in both losses to the Lady Demons totaled four points.

Cobos scored a game-high 20 points for Dexter, which drained six 3-point shots.

Caylee Benavidez scored 13 points to lead Tucumcari, and teammate Lafferty added 12.

The Lady Demons made the victory harder than it needed to be by converting just 6 of 19 free throws – a chronic problem for them all season.

"I tell the girls, 'If we can increase our free-throw shooting percentage, we're running away with games,'" coach Arthur Cobos said.

The Lady Rattlers trailed much of the first half as they struggled to establish an offense. Cobos, who is Nayeli's father, said he mixed up his team's defenses to keep Tucumcari off-balance.

"We're a pressing team. But against this team, we changed things up," he said. "We want to try different things on different teams and see how they react to it. We were kind of out of our element to slow things down and not go full-on press. It was a good experience for us, and I think it will help us in the postseason."

Tucumcari put together an 11-2 run in the third quarter to turn an 18-14 deficit into a 25-20 lead.

The Lady Rattlers increased their advantage to 31-24 with 5:33 left.

The Lady Demons stormed back on Alexa Miramontes' six points in the fourth quarter and eight more from Cobos, including a 3-pointer to give her team a 39-36 lead with 27 seconds left.

Tucumcari coach Patrick Benavidez called a timeout with 14.2 seconds left to set up a play for Lafferty.

The play worked well – perhaps too well. Lafferty drained the 3-pointer just a few ticks after Tucumcari inbounded the ball.

"It worked good, and she came through; we just left too much time on the clock," coach Benavidez said. "We thought (the play) would take a little more time, but it developed fast because a girl fell down."

Dexter took a timeout with 7.7 seconds left to set up a play.

Nayeli Cobos dribbled nearly the length of the floor, drove deep into the lane and was fouled with 2.2 seconds left.

"We knew No. 3 would get the ball and drive with it," Benavidez said. "That shows the experience they have at the end of the game, and we're still so young. And she's so fast. We tried to double-team her, and she still blew by us to the basket."

Coach Cobos admitted he became a little nervous when he saw his daughter heading into the lane.

"It was a little scary because you're not sure if someone would step in and take a charge," he said.

Nayeli Cobos missed the first free throw but made the second to give her team the lead. Tucumcari turned the ball over on the inbounds play, and time expired.

Pecos 54, Tucumcari 40

Pecos outscored Tucumcari 24-7 in the second quarter to seize control during a 54-40 non-district win on Feb. 8.

It was 15-14 after one quarter when the Panthers made their big move to take a 39-21 lead at intermission.

"Everything they shot seemed to find the bottom of the net, and we missed some layups after breaking their intense half-court press," coach Benavidez said. "We continued to play well and really passed the ball great and just could not overcome the deficit from the second-quarter run."

Alexus Lafferty, Caylee Benavidez and July Lafferty each scored 11 points for the Lady Rattlers.

Pecos improved to 8-11 overall.