Lady Coyotes coast past Mountainair

DORA — In resounding fashion, the Dora girls basketball team won District 6-2A tournament opener on Monday night with a 61-21 thumping of Mountainair.

The Lady Coyotes (18-9), seeded third in the four-team bracket, were led by Daelynn Lee, Haileah Gramzow and Jaedin Paxton, each with 13 points. Mountainair (1-24) was paced by Hannah Torres with 11.

Dora travels to second-seeded Fort Sumner on Wednesday, with that winner playing at top-seeded Logan in the finals on Friday night.

The win was one of Dora's easier victories of the season, but coach Gabe Montoya said that a game like this one helps his squad.

"In all reality, it's good for us," he said. "We get some girls off the bench to play a bit in case we get in a predicament (with foul trouble) like we did the first time we played Fort Sumner."

Three Dora players fouled out of that contest.

Dora will travel to Fort Sumner Wednesday in the second round of the district tournament. Montoya said this game will hopefully help his girls keep their momentum going from the latter half of the season.

"Just take it one game at a time, at the end of the day we can't overlook anyone," Montoya said. "But a game like this, where we feel comfortable, it just builds our confidence going into the next game with Fort Sumner."

Santa Rosa 54, Texico 52 (boys): At Tucumcari, the Lions (18-7) built a 13-7 lead after one quarter and held off the Wolverines to earn the No. 1 seed in the District 5-3A tournament. They will host the district championship game on Saturday night.

Texico (18-7), now the No. 2 seed, awaits the winner of tonight's Clayton-Tucumcari game in a Thursday semifinal.

Stephen Sanchez scored 20 points, including a pair of 3-pointers as Santa Rosa won for the second time in three meetings this season with Texico. Only four players scored for the Wolverines, although all of them finished in double figures - led by guard Dalton Thatcher with three 3-pointers and 21 points.

Grady 53, San Jon 19 (girls): At Grady, the third-seeded Lady Bronchos (13-13) opened a 17-4 lead at the quarter and cruised into a 6 p.m. semifinal game at second-seeded Elida on Wednesday.

Sage Starbuck scored 21 points for Grady, with the remaining tallies spread among seven players. Guard Selena Caldera led the Lady Coyotes with six points.

Floyd 45, Clovis Christian 36 (girls): In another 4-1A game at Floyd, the teams played their second competitive game in less than a week, with the homestanding Lady Broncos coming out on top again after winning 49-47 last week at CCS.

Fourth-seeded Floyd (6-18), which plays at top-seeded Melrose on Wednesday, rode a 17-point outing from freshman Lexie Miller to the victory. The Lady Eagles (5-20) were paced by Sofi Garbarino's 14 points.