Steers take season opener

Melrose sophomore Carlos Ruiz gets past Farwell’s Grant Gregory to score a basket in Tuesday night’s game at Farwell. Photo by Rick White

FARWELL — Junior Tate Nichols scored 16 points and the Farwell Steers erased a two-point deficit after one quarter to beat Melrose 55-29 Tuesday night in the season opener for both teams.

Senior Grant Gregory added 12 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for the Steers, who got scoring from 10 of their 11 players.

Farwell, which lost on Friday in the Texas Class 1A football playoffs, led just 22-19 at halftime before outscoring the Buffaloes 19-4 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

“I think it took us a little while to get back into the game, but that’s understandable,” Steers coach Kirk Saul said. “I thought our halfcourt press was the bright spot tonight. I thought we ran that real well.”

Melrose’s leading scorer was sophomore Carlos Ruiz, who finished with 10 points.

Hart 79, Clovis Christian 28 — Roy Robledo scored 25 points and converted five of Hart’s 11 3-point baskets as the host Longhorns cruised to victory over the Eagles.

Matthew Gonzales added 17 points, including three 3-pointers, for Hart. The Longhorns, who went 0 for 6 from the free throw line, opened a 34-13 halftime lead and were never threatened.

Dustin Handley scored seven points for CCS, while Ryan Boatman, Matt Young and Chris Mitchell all had six.

Girls

Muleshoe 80, Takoka 37 — Senior post Sara Benham poured in 35 points Tuesday night as the Lady Mules cruised in a battle of ranked teams.

Muleshoe (2-1) is ranked fourth in Texas Class 3A while Tahoka is a top-10 team in Class 2A. The Lady Bulldogs advanced to the 2A regional finals last year, where they lost to Shallowater.

Muleshoe led 36-22 at halftime before turning the game into a runaway over the final two periods.

“We played a pretty decent game,” Lady Mules coach Shana Simms said. “We’re getting better every game. We beat a very good team — it was kind of shocking.”

Tori Barton also reached double figures with 11 points for Muleshoe, which committed just 10 turnovers while coming up with 21 steals. “I was very pleased with how hard we worked the whole game,” Simms said.

Meghan Faldana led Tahoka with 12 points, while senior post Demesha Harris was limited to 10. “Holding her to 10 was a major accomplishment,” Simms said.

Hart 61, Clovis Christian 32 — The host Lady Longhorns broke open the game with a 20-2 run in the third quarter.

Sandra Menchanca led three Hart players in double figures with 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. High scorer for the Lady Eagles (0-2) was senior Rachel Daale with eight points.

“We played pretty well for a half, then we came out in the third quarter and were just real flat,” CCS girls coach Max Kralicek said. “But we’re young, and we’re trying to learn.”

Farwell 65, Melrose 33 — Kyra Christian scored 19 points, including five of Farwell’s seven 3-pointers, as the Lady Blue cruised to its second win in three outings.

Senior Allison Cochran scored 13 points for the Lady Buffaloes, who were playing their season opener. Farwell led 15-6 at the quarter and steadily pulled away after that.