Melrose, Texico ousted in quarterfinals

Curry County teams stayed alive for the most part Tuesday, going 3-1 in girls action at the New Mexico state basketball championships.

On Wednesday, not so much.

Both Texico and Melrose fell in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, with the Wolverines taking a 60-55 loss against Laguna-Acoma in Class 3A and the Buffaloes falling 77-70 to Mora in Class 2A.

“Fourth quarter, we made some mistakes, but the kids played hard,” Texico coach Scott Karger said, noting the difficulties of playing against a raucous Laguna-Acoma crowd. “We handled it well, but they just got us down the stretch.”

David McGee scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead four in double figures for third-seeded Laguna-Acoma (25-3). The Hawks, winners of 16 straight, will stay at the Star Center for a 6:30 p.m. Thursday semifinal against Clayton. The second-seeded Yellowjackets (22-7) cruised past Lordsburg 74-59.

Karger said the game was back-and-forth throughout, though Texico did have to mix up rotations with junior Brannon Karger going to the bench with foul trouble early in the third. The Hawks turned a tie ballgame into an eight-point lead in the fourth, and Texico (18-10) never got closer than three after that.

Texico, led by Brannon Karger’s 19, struggled from the field, shooting 36 percent on the night — 18-for-50, including 1-of-14 from the 3-point line.

Coach Karger said he appreciated the efforts of his five seniors, and noted the returners will have big shoes to fill for a Wolverine team that perenially expects to make deep runs.

“We’re going to be young,” Karger said. “We’ve got three starters coming back, but when you lose guys of the quality of Justin Rucker and Rodrick Dean, they’re going to be tough to replace. We have a chance to be OK, but we have to fill a few roles.

“The thing about 3A is it’s so balanced. Any of the top eight teams could have won. You can’t say that with every class.”

In the Class 2A quarterfinal, the fifth-seeded Rangers (21-8) move on to a 4:45 p.m. semifinal today against Magdalena, also at Bernalillo High School. The top-seeded Mustangs routed Questa 88-58.

The Rangers, led by Cosimiro Vasquez’ 23 points, took control of a tight game with a 21-10 third quarter.

“We had a lot of inside shots in the third quarter we just missed, and they got hot,” Melrose coach Jim Doherty said. “Vasquez hit two big threes, that got the crowd going.”

Cade Barnard had a double-double with a game-high 30 points and 11 rebounds, while junior Wyatt Williams scored 21.

Ferdinand Valencia added 16 points for the Rangers.