Portales teams have momentum

It’s safe to say that both Portales teams built a little bit of momentum with Friday victories.

It’s an even safer bet that neither squad is looking to lose any of the new-found momentum with homecoming only a few days away.

Both teams have games later this week against Roswell, the boys on Thursday and the girls Friday. First there is the task of Tuesday. The girls continue District 4-3A play tonight with a home game against Ruidoso, while the boys head to Tucumcari.

After notching a 44-39 win at Class 5A Carlsbad, the game against the 2A Rattlers has all of the makings of a trap game.

Portales coach Mark Gallegos said the Rattlers are no pushover, especially at home.

“They’ve got some big kids,” Gallegos said. “They also shoot the 3-pointer well. We’ll have to do a good job defending inside.

“You give them a little bit of momentum and it’s going to be a game. We’ve got to make sure we don’t let them do that.”

The Portales girls also have momentum after notching a 71-42 win at Lovington Friday night. The Lady Rams, 13-6 on the season, have won seven of their last nine games.

Portales’ most recent losses came to Clovis, and five of Portales’ six losses this season are against Class 5A teams — the other came against Sudan, Texas. Portales only has 3A and 4A teams for the remainder of the season.

Still, there’s room for improvement, Portales coach Brenda Gomez said.

“We didn’t hit the boards that well (against Lovington),” Gomez said. “We only got 11 offensive rebounds, and nine of those came from two players.”

Gomez was, however, pleased that the team only had 12 turnovers and shot 9-of-15 from the 3-point arc.

The team spent Monday’s practice working on pressbreakers and offense against the zone. Gomez said she expects Ruidoso to play a 2-2-1 press and a 2-3 zone.

“Overall this practice was really good,” Gomez said. “We did some really good things and I hope we do them tomorrow as well.”