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The Floyd Lady Broncos continue their adjustment to a new coach in the comfort of their home today in the first game of the Floyd America Tournament.
“We’re a real young team,” Floyd coach Shawn Wootton said. “It’s going to be good to have three games in your gym.”
The Lady Broncos have only two seniors on the team, Corina Mendoza and Cindy Andrade. The guard-duo has adjusted to their new coach and new offensive system. It’s not anything new for Mendoza and Andrade, who have gone through several coaching changes in their high school basketball careers.
“It’s kind of hard when the program is not stable,” Mendoza said. “You can’t really focus on certain things, because there’s new things every year that you have to learn.”
Wootton has coached at Texico and Santa Rosa and has nine years of coaching experience. Mark Poynor coached the Lady Broncos for the 2002-03 season, Misty Prior for the 2001-02 season and Rocky Victor for the 1999-2001 seasons.
“Rocky taught us to play a hard man-to-man defense then Prior had us running a zone (after Rocky left),” Mendoza said. “Poynor was in his first year coaching a girls team and he was learning with us. With coach Wooten, he likes to break down defenses and get them out of their comfort zone.”
Wootten said he liked to run a spread offense and with outside scoring threats like Andrade and Mendoza.
Floyd (2-2) plays Bovina (5-3) today in the first round.
“They run a lot of 2-3 zone,” Wootton said. “Their coach has done a great job with them. They’ve already got more victories than last year. It’s an advantage to have played eight games. Texas teams have already played eight or 10 games, whereas New Mexico teams are on their fourth or fifth game.”
Bovina was a 2-24 last season.
The round-robin tournament will showcase Bovina, Springer, Desert Academy and Floyd.
“I think it’s going to be big for us,” Andrade said about the Floyd America Tournament. “Playing these games will help us out a lot.”