Portales teams split road games

ROSWELL — The Rams girls made easy work of Roswell on Tuesday, downing the Coyotes, 63-35. Portales had a significant rebounding advantage of 42-19, led by Taylee Rippee's 15 boards.

"One of the takeaways from this game is that (my girls) never let up," Rams coach Wade Fraze explained. "We had a game last year against Goddard where we were up 19-2 in the first quarter, and ended up losing by 12. Roswell is a good team, they had won their last two games by (over 30 points each). I consider them to be a very dangerous team."

Portales (14-2) got out to a 17-4 lead after the first quarter, and as Fraze mentioned, they never let up. The Rams proceeded to hold Roswell (6-10) to 11, eight and 12 points over the final three periods.

Rippee's double-double included 21 points and 15 rebounds, while Zamorye Cox had 15 points, seven assists and six steals. The Rams will next host Lovington on Friday night at 7, in a rematch from last week, when the Rams won on the road, 49-28.

According to Fraze, he fully expects Lovington to come out and mix things up this time around.

"Lovington is way better than their record. They've got two good guards, they're tenacious and they never quit," Fraze said. "We had a slim five-point lead against them in Lovington, and I expect them to make adjustments (for Friday's game) and play tough."

As for the Portales boys (8-5), they rallied from 14 points down to tie Lovington on Tuesday night, but ultimately ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats outscored the Rams, 25-18, in the final quarter to take the win.

Despite the disappointing final result, Rams (8-5) coach Rickie McBroom saw a lot of positives with his team's performance. "We were down and the kids battled back," McBroom said. "I felt like we grew up tonight. We were real aggressive on offense, and I thought our defense played better in the second half."

In the end, Lovington (8-8) hung on with free throws, making 16-of-25 for the game, whereas Portales went just 11-of-23 on the night. Tyrese Dawson led the Rams with 21 points, while Vince Gardner added 11.

The Rams will now play in the Santa Fe St. Mike's Shootout, which starts today. The tournament pits four schools against each other over the next three days, which includes Portales, Santa Fe Indian School, St. Michael's and Silver.

Portales will first play Santa Fe Indian today at 5:30 p.m., in what should prove to be a challenging task for the Rams. "They're quick, and they really like to shoot the 3," McBroom explained.

"They've got some kids back from last year, when we beat them. So, they're more mature this year. It's an important tournament because we're playing all 4A teams, who were all ranked in the top 10 at one point. It also gets us ready for district, which we start next week. But more importantly, I want to see (my team) play consistent for three games."