Joseph helps lead the #2 Lady Eagles into the Championship Game

<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Earlier today (Thursday, March 10th) the Hobbs Lady Eagles took on the La Cueva Bears in the first Semi-Final matchup of the 2022 New Mexico State Tournament. A game that came down to closing seconds, which ended in a <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>game-winning</strong></span> blocked shot by sophomore Aniya Joseph of Hobbs. </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Hobbs came into the contest as the #2 overall seed after finishing the regular season with a record of 20-7. The Lady Eagles claimed the District Title for District 4-5A thanks to solid play from numerous underclassmen. Their opposition, the #3 seed La Cueva Bears; a team that typically utilizes a 7 player rotation that commits to suffocating defense which helped them to a record of 19-6. </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">La Cuevas defense held true for the majority of the game especially during the first half as they forced 17(!) team turnovers - including 10+ steals. The Bears went into the half with a 18-15 lead.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Hobbs then responded to open the 3rd quarter with a 11-3 run of their own. They finished the quarter outscoring La Cueva 16-5 due to overwhelming paint presence from Hobbs’ frontcourt players Aniya Joseph and Kyndle Cunningham who together combined for 16 rebounds in the contest. </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">With under 1 minute in regulation, Senior point guard [player_tooltip player_id="353758" first="Rylie" last="Ottmann"] of La Cueva drove baseline and found an open Karleigh Gutierrez for a jump shot in the lane. That basket tied the game at 39 apiece with 30 seconds left. </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">This is when Aniya Joseph sealed the deal on her already impressive performance - Joseph was a force inside the paint utilizing her height and reach all game long. The sophomore finished the game with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 blocks -  With soft touch over the left shoulder, Joseph was finishing over the top of La Cueva defenders and got to the free-throw line often (5/5). The sophomore missed her initial attempt with under 10 seconds in regulation but got her own rebound and put it back up to take the lead 41-39 with 7 seconds. </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The ensuing Bears possession had Ottmann drive into the lane and attempt a floater that was sent back by Joseph to end the game!</span></p> <p dir="auto" style="padding-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Joseph, who was 1st team all District and the District Player of the Year for District 4-5A, will lead the Lady Eagles into the Championship game on Friday March 11th- the Hobbs Lady Eagles will be playing in the State Tournament Championship game for a fifth(!) consecutive year - they await they winner of #1 Volcano Vista/ #4 Farmington who play later tonight. </span></p>