ALBUQUERQUE — Bob McIntyre had coached a team in the state semifinals before, so Thursday afternoon’s showdown with second-seeded Eldo-rado was nothing new.

But how does any team win in light of shooting 18 percent from the field, failing to connect on any of its nine shots from behind the arc, and being out-rebounded 43-33?

Ask Eldorado coach Mike Huston. His Eagles (24-6) beat the Rams 29-26 to head into Saturday afternoon’s championship game with No. 1 La Cueva, which beat fifth-seeded Las Cruces 49-36 in the other semifinal played Thursday. Albeit an ugly game by all standards — the Rams shot only 23 percent from the field, made but one of six shots from 3-point range and had turned the ball over 27 times by game’s end — it went right down to the final 40 seconds.

“We positioned our kids with a shot to win the ballgame and with 23 seconds to go, we’re shooting a one-and-one,” McIntyre said. “We knock those down, I feel pretty good because Eldorado had really struggled against our defense.”

But junior Courtney Solwick missed her first shot. Teammate Ashley Rhoades grabbed the rebound, which turned into a grapple for the ball and a tie-ball, which went to the Rams.

On the inbounds pass, Solwick fouled Eldorado’s Sara Schwantes, and Solwick was done, picking up her fifth foul, while Schwantes sank one of her two free throws at the south end for what turned out to be the winning point.

Eldorado’s Britteny Brown snagged the rebound of Schwantes’ miss and was fouled by Megan Muñiz.

Brown, who led the Eagles with 7 points, sank both free throws with 13 seconds left to play, meaning the Rams needed a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime.

Muñiz (who else?) got the ball and threw up a shot from about 24 as the buzzer sounded; her shot hit the back of the rim and bounced away and the McIntyre slipped to 0-5 in state semifinal games.

“I’m proud of our kids — we battled,” McIntyre said. “The Eldorado kids hung in there. Really, the game comes down to they make a free throw, we don’t make a free throw — and that’s basketball.”

Eldorado’s final 11 points came from the charity stripe, where they canned 15 of 24 attempts, compared to the Rams’ 9 of 16, more than the three-point final difference.

“I felt like we needed to out-score them by 10 points at the line,” McIntyre said. “That didn’t happen. The fact we were in it at the very end and had a chance to win the ballgame; I’m disappointed, our kids are really, really disappointed. It’s been a fun group to coach.”

McIntyre had his own way of summing up the 32-minute game.

“It was great defense by the Rio Rancho Rams,” he said. “You get down in The Pit and I think, really, the story of the game is Eldorado is 7 of 40.

“Before the game, (Eldorado may have thought), ‘What are we going to do; go out and guard them hard and let these athletes go by?’ I told our kids before the game, if they’re going to beat us, they’re going to beat us on the perimeter. Our kids followed our game plan.

“You know what? Too many people want to see the 80- and 90-point games; I love defense and our kids played some great defense,” he said. “And the Eldorado kids played equally good defense. We’ve always had trouble, this entire year, scoring.”

Most of the players will be back next year, including Tracy Fosterling, one of four starting juniors Thursday.

Fosterling led the Rams in scoring, with 8 points; rebounding, with 10; and assists (2) against Eldorado.

Muñiz, also a junior, scored 7, with Lexy Quakenbush guarding her closely throughout the game, and had just one field goal. Rhoades, the only senior among three on the squad to see extensive playing time this season, matched Muniz with 7 to go with 9 rebounds; freshman Shelby Pendley had 3 and Solwick, yet another junior, added 1.

The game started out sloppily, as the rams committed six turnovers before the game was a minute old and Rio Rancho had 10 first-period turnovers, yet the game was knotted at 5 when it ended.

The Rams handled the ball much better in the second quarter, which ended on a 9-0 Rams run, giving them a 14-11 lead.

Muñiz’s 3-point attempt in the first minute of the second half found nothing but net, but it turned out to be her team’s only field goal of the period. Eldorado scored five points in the third period, leaving the Rams with a 17-16 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Both teams had chances to make it a two-possession game, but neither could shoot well enough: Rio Rancho was 3 of 14 in the final eight minutes, the Eagles were 1 of 5 and that field goal came in the quarter’s opening minute.

It’s been said that you win as a team and lose as a team, and Thursday’s outing proved that: Every Ram was guilty of turning the ball over and managing to miss 27 shots at the basket, many from inside the paint, McIntyre seemed pleased with the effort.

“We really played as a team all year long and played together and so they’re all hurting together right now,” he said. “There can only be one winner.

“I’ve been here a number of times since I’ve been at Rio Rancho and short of the time when Beky Preston (of La Cueva) got cut on the chin against Hobbs, every one that’s gotten us in the semis has gotten it, so I wished (EHS coach Mike Huston) good luck -- and hope no one gets cut (in the title tilt)

Ram dunks: Senior Talisa Puentes was a sportsmanship nominee finalist for that New Mexico Activities Association award.

... Former Rams assistant Lori Stephenson, whose Cibola Cougars entered the tournament as the 4 seed before a 43-39 loss to Las Cruces in the quarterfinals, did some color commentary for the Rams’ game with Henry Tafoya on KDEF-AM.

... Although the Eagles had been a perennial basketball power when Don Flanagan was their head coach, winning titles for him in 1980, ‘81, ‘83, ‘86, ‘87, ‘89, ‘90, ‘92, ‘93 and ‘95, EHS has been in only one championship game since: In 1996, they lost to Heights foe Sandia, 58-46. The Eagles lost a game at La Cueva this season, 62-54, on Jan. 15.