Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
RIO RANCHO — The 3-pointers weren’t falling, and Texico had turnover problems in Tuesday’s Class 3A girls state quarterfinals.
No problem. The second-seeded, two-time defending champion Lady Wolverines rode a combined 40 points and 22 rebounds from seniors Jasmine Gannon and Maryelle Dickerman to a 54-39 win over No. 10 Loving at Santa Ana Star Center.
Texico (22-7) advances to an 11:30 a.m. Thursday semifinal at the Star Center against third-seeded Tohatchi (24-5), which routed Tucumcari 84-47 in Tuesday’s first game.
Gannon finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds — as many as Loving’s entire team — while Dickerman funneled in a personal-best 18 points and added seven rebounds. Ten of Gannon’s rebounds were on the offensive end.
“(The girls) did a good job of getting them the ball, and they were finishing shots,” Texico coach Richard Luscombe said. “(But) we didn’t handle pressure as well as we could, and that concerns me with our next opponent.”
Tohatchi got off to a fast start against Tucumcari in the early game and overwhelmed the Lady Rattlers with defensive pressure.
“They shot the ball really well, and they press fullcourt a lot,” Luscombe said of the
Texico led 18-11 at the quarter and never looked back against the Lady Falcons (16-14), a former district rival. The Lady Wolverines shots 46 percent overall, but went 0-for-9 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 23 times against the aggressive Loving defense.
Senior guard Briana Rodriguez finished with 13 points and junior point guard Alyssa Rodriguez added 10 points for the Lady Falcons, who upended seventh-seeded Pecos 65-48 in the round of 16.
Class 2A girls — At Bernalillo H.S., junior guard Karla Paradez scored her only basket of the game with 35 seconds left, giving fifth-seeded Fort Sumner the lead for good in a 54-52 quarterfinal win over fourth-seeded Mescalero.
The Vixens advance to an 11:30 a.m. semifinal on Thursday against top-seeded Tatum (24-5), which crushed Mora 60-28 on Tuesday.
Junior guard Claudia Torres compiled 18 points and 10 rebounds for Fort Sumner (20-9), while senior guard Micah Crist also had 18 points.
The Lady Chiefs (24-7) grabbed a 52-51 lead with about a minute to play when senior guard Alarah Kazhe-Kirgan hit a 3-pointer, but the team went 0-for-6 from the line the rest of the way to finish the game just 5-of-21. Included were two misses on an intentional foul and 0-for-3 on a foul beyond the arc.
By contrast, Fort Sumner went 16-of-21, with Torres finishing 8-of-10, Crist 4-of-4 and junior guard Abby Wilton 4-of-5.
Junior guard Katelyn Yuzos had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Mescalero, while senior post Lauryn Yuzos scored 12 points and senior gaurd Jannessa Melendrez added 11.
