El Paso high school girls basketball: El Dorado stays unbeaten in district with home win

Felix F. Chavez, El Paso Times
·2 min read

Throughout the course of the high school girls basketball season, the El Dorado Aztecs have developed a strong bond and a trust in each other.

The Aztecs also have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and play each game looking to show the rest of the city they are for real.

Tuesday night, the Aztecs controlled the tempo from the start on the way to a 54-27 win against Canutillo to improve to 10-0 in District 2-5A and 18-6 overall.

"We feel like we haven't gotten the respect we deserve this season and we go out every game to prove we are among the top teams in the city," guard Melanie Garcia said. "We believed we could have this type of success all season long. But we are taking it one game at a time, we don't get ahead of ourselves."

El Dorado's Melanie Garcia (22) at a girls basketball game against Canutillo High School Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, at El Dorado High School in El Paso, TX.
El Dorado's Melanie Garcia (22) at a girls basketball game against Canutillo High School Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, at El Dorado High School in El Paso, TX.

Veteran coach Ty Burns said it's been a process with this year's Aztecs and the work is beginning to pay off.

"Last year we had four breaks during the COVID year and we had to play seven games in nine days just to make the playoffs. It was hard to gauge how good we could be," Burns said. "This year, we had to develop leadership, which was missing at the start of the year. But kids have stepped up, taken their roles seriously, developed as a team and individuals and are playing well together. We have a great group of kids. We have kids who get it done off the court at school and then come get it done on the court. I believe one area that helps us is our summer and offseason conditioning. We work out with the others girls teams on campus and that dedication has helped us."

El Dorado's Alyssa Abascal (10) dribbles past Canutillo at a basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, at El Dorado High School in El Paso, TX.
El Dorado's Alyssa Abascal (10) dribbles past Canutillo at a basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, at El Dorado High School in El Paso, TX.

What also helps is a balanced attack. In the first half of Tuesday's win, seven different players scored. At the end of the night, Erin Carbajal led the way with 13 points, Garcia chipped in with 11 and Talitha Hicks scored 10.

"We've developed a strong chemistry and that's one of the most improved areas of this team," guard Alyssa Abascal said. "It's been a great season for us. We have depth and we don't care who scores the most points or gets the most rebounds. We just want to win. We still have lots of goals to play for."

Another area the Aztecs have improved in is defense. El Dorado controlled the first half and gave up five points and led 23-5 at intermission.

"We try to come out strong and set the tone early," Abascal said. "We always want to play well on defense, share the ball and be efficient on offense."

El Dorado girls basketball celebrates their 54-27 win against Canutillo High School Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, at El Dorado High School in El Paso, TX.
El Dorado girls basketball celebrates their 54-27 win against Canutillo High School Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, at El Dorado High School in El Paso, TX.

More: See Tuesday's Jan. 25 high school sports scoreboard

Felix F. Chavez may be reached at 915-546-6167; fchavez@elpasotimes.com; @Fchavezeptimes on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Dorado girls basketball stays unbeaten in district with win