Texico defends title on defensive end

Texico coach Keith Durham doesn’t think there’s any mystery to a defense that didn’t allow an opponent 50 points all year — just hard work.

“I don’t think there’s a secret,” Durham said, “but I don’t know if there are teams out there willing to do what we do every game.”

What they did every game paid off as the Lady Wolverines defended the Class 2A basketball title with a 55-45 defeat of Navajo Prep.

Texico, which hasn’t lost to a Class 2A opponent since its 2006 state semifinal against Hope Christian, managed a 28-2 mark this season, with defeats against Class 5A Cibola and Class 3A Portales.

Durham said those two losses came at perfect points in the season. The 48-24 loss to Cibola came in the Plateau Wireless Holiday Classic in Clovis, right between semesters. The loss to Portales came at the conclusion of the regular season.

“Throughout the month, I’d been telling the girls certain things we needed to do,” Durham said of the atmosphere before the 34-25 loss, which ended a 15-game streak. “Now all of a sudden, I’m believed. There’s no question those two losses helped us.”

Once the loss to the Lady Rams was out of the way, the Texico defense took over. The only team to post more than 30 points for the rest of the year was Navajo Prep, the top seed in Class 2A. Meanwhile, the offense was scoring to the tune of 55 points per game.

Durham credits the offensive success to how the team defended itself every day in practice.

“We do it every day, and we do it against each other,” Durham said. “It helps us offensively as well. When people put pressure on us, we’re used to it.”

The team was used to pressure, having returned a solid roster from the previous title team. But wherever there was pressure, there was confidence to keep winning.

“I think it definitely made it a little harder,” senior Micah Mayfield said of defending the title. “We weren’t (always ranked) No. 1, but I always knew we could do it.”

Mayfield is one of four seniors on the roster. Durham knows he’ll also miss Bryn Mayfield, Brooke Bailey and Faith Martin, but the returners are ready for the challenge.

“I think there is (a good roster for next year), definitely,” sophomore Katlin Luscombe said. “We’re just going to have to toughen up and get through it.”

Durham feels as long as they focus on defense and rebounding from the early grades on up, anybody putting on the green and white will have a chance at a blue trophy.

“I really, truly believe that across the state of New Mexico,” Durham said, “they don’t want to play the Texico Wolverines.”