Rams rally to win ENMU camp title

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After a surprising run to the Eastern New Mexico University team camp title, Kambrey Blakey and a smattering of teammates got set for a photo with the first-place plaque.

Only problem? The plaque was nowhere to be found. The photo shoot was held off for a few minutes, until it was discovered coach Wade Fraze had already filed it away in his bag.

link Staff photo: Kevin Wilson

Portales guard Bailey Rowley directs traffic during the first half of Saturday’s Eastern New Mexico University team camp title game at Greyhound Arena. Portales defeated Hobbs 43-42 in overtime.

It wasn’t that the third-year Portales coach thought nothing of the title — which included a 43-42 overtime win over Hobbs and a string of upsets to get there. In fact, he felt the Rams had a great camp long before ENMU women’s coach Josh Prock handed over the trophy on the Greyhound Arena sideline.

“Summer championships are nice,” Fraze said, “but that’s not why you play in the summer. We’re trying to get better, and I think we got better than we were a week ago.”

Well, mission accomplished. The 2013 Class 3A champ and 2014 Class 4A runnerup was definitely better in the camp’s postseason tournament than in the 10-game regular season, where it stumbled its way to the sixth seed.

“I was worried early, because each game we played we got worse,” Fraze said, “and I think a lot of our girls would say the same thing.”

link Staff photo: Kevin Wilson

Portales senior Kambrey Blakey applies defensive pressure to Hobbs' Amaya Lewis in the first half of Saturday's game.

Also, Portales was better late in Saturday’s title game. The Rams fell into a double-digit deficit midway through the first half, then rallied with a 19-6 run in the second half against the Class 6A Eagles.

Rest helped, said Fraze, who noted the team had played 22 games in nine days between ENMU and last weekend’s camp at West Texas A&M.

“We were lucky to get done early on Friday, I believe around 3 or 4,” Fraze said. “It let the girls go home, get a good night’s sleep and come in fresh today. I think it helped.”

Blakey said better execution played a role, as well.

“We played better defense, we went to a zone and we played hard,” Blakey said. “We blocked out, and we were more coachable.”

Blakey, Maxpreps’ Class 3A player of the year as a sophomore and 4A player of the year as a junior, sent the game to overtime with a pair of free throws from a late drive, gave Portales the lead for good on a 3-pointer 23 seconds into overtime and pulled down the rebound on a missed Hobbs free throw with 4.2 seconds left.

But there were plenty of other contributors in a game where Fraze threw multiple lineups out and kept Blakey and senior guard Sheraya Cox on the bench even though the team was down by double figures.

Fraze said there are no starters or non-starters during the summer season, but there have been stretches where the less experienced Rams have extended leads with more veteran players on the bench. That’s important, Fraze said, for a team that lost three starters to graduation and senior Victoria Cordova to an ACL tear.

But there are numerous familiar faces, including Bailey Rowley, Zamorye Cox and sophomore 6-footer Lindsay Blakey, who sometimes relieved her older sister and other times played alongside her when Fraze wanted a big lineup.

“We’re really working well together,” the elder Blakey said. “We talk with each other, and we push each other every day.”

Portales will conclude its summer season with the Lubbock Christian University team camps Thursday through Saturday at the Rip Griffin Center.