Rams, Lady Rams absorb losses

LITTLEFIELD — Portales High’s basketball teams breezed into Friday’s Wildcat Classic semifinals with 8-0 records, only to run into some stiff competition.

Boys coach Rickie McBroom and girls coach Wade Fraze hope their teams benefit from the games. Each lost for the second day in a row on Saturday, the Rams falling to Class 1A Happy 67-55 in the boys third-place game while the girls dropped a 55-47 decision to Denver City in consolation play.

The Lady Rams were to have played the Lubbock Titans in the third-place game, but due to NMAA regulations are not allowed to play a home-school team. Tournament organizers made the switch and put PHS up against the Class 4A Lady Mustangs (14-3).

The Lady Rams overcame a 12-2 deficit at the start, outscoring Denver City 14-2 the rest of the quarter to take a two-point lead behind 3-pointers from juniors Sarah Lovato and Kelly Fraze.

Denver City outscored the Lady Rams 23-14 over the middle two quarters.

“We’ve struggled in the third quarter all year,” PHS girls coach Wade Fraze said. “We’ve got to learn to come out and play like we’re (farther) behind in the third quarter.”

Coach Fraze said it was “an extremely, extremely, extremely physical game,” adding: “Getting a shot off inside was next to impossible.”

Sophomore forward Holly Hemmeline led Denver City with 15 points while junior guards Arielle Adams and Morgan Diaz added 13 and 10 points, respectively.

For the Lady Rams, junior Zamorye Cox scored 13 points and dished out four assists while junior Lindsey Blakey added 12 points and 15 rebounds. Meantime, sophomore Taylor Rippee grabbed 11 caroms.

“It was a good game for us in that we’ve got to toughen up,” Fraze said.

Meantime, the boys ran into a solid small-school program in Happy, which led 21-14 at the quarter and never looked back.

“We played another really good team,” said Rams coach Rickie McBroom, whose squad suffered its first loss of the season in Friday’s semifinals against Lamesa. “They shot very well against us — I think they shot close to 50 percent the first half — and we didn’t shoot as well as we normally do.

“We just need to get back in the gym and get to work.”

Sterling White led four Cowboys in double figures with 19 points, while Colton McCarley added 13, Trevor Phillies 12 and Dalton Gray 10. McCarley and Phillies each had three of Happy’s eight 3-pointers.

Seniors Jeremie Karngbaye and Junior Ramirez scored 16 and 12 points, respectively, for the Rams.

Both PHS squads return to action on Tuesday at the RAC, with the boys facing Roswell Goddard at 5:30 p.m. and the girls taking on Artesia at 7 p.m.

SUMMARIES

Wildcat Classic

At Littlefield

Third place

Happy 67, Portales 55

Happy — Trevor Phillies 12, Karson Bryan 6, Colton McCarley 13, Mitch Downing 5, Dalton Gray 10, Sterling White 19, Jackson Davis 2. Totals 21 17-24 67.

Portales (8-2) — Darion Ontiveros 4, Junior Ramirez 12, Jase Wallace 8, Treyton Noele 1, Braden Bridges 8, Jeremie Karngbaye 16, Ethan Self 6. Totals 22 4-9 55.

Happy 21 12 19 15 — 67

Portales 14 10 19 12 — 55

3-pointers — Happy, McCarley 3, Phillies 3, Downing, White. Portales, Bridges 2, Ramirez 2, Self 2, Wallace.

Girls

Wildcat Classic

At Littlefield

Consolation bracket

Denver City 55, Portales 47

Portales (8-2) — Sarah Lovato 5, Zamorye Cox 13, Kelly Fraze 8, Lindsey Blakey 12, Sky Marianito 2, Taylee Rippee 7. Totals 16 11-16 47.

Denver City (14-3) — Morgan Diaz 10, Cassidy Esmerado 9, Moraima Villegas 2, Arielle Adams 13, Holly Hemmeline 15, Denisse Saenz 6. Totals 18 16-25 55.

Portales 16 6 8 17 — 47

Denver City 14 11 12 18 — 55

3-pointers — Portales, Fraze 2, Cox, Lovato. Denver City, Esmerado 2, Diaz.