Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Tatum will face top seed Texico; Elida will face Grady
Floyd guard Anahi Chavez drives to the basket in the second quarter of Wednesday's EPAC opener at Texico. Chavez scored 10 points, but Tatum won 62-39.
Dora sophomore Kimberlee Rains works her way around Logan junior Harlie Roach, center, and sophomore Hannah Stacy, left, in the first half of Wednesday's EPAC Tournament action at Texico. Rains had 12 points in the 54-39 Logan win.
TEXICO — As 3 p.m. struck on the clocks at Texico High School, fans throughout eastern New Mexico were settled in the green chairs they planned to sit in for the rest of the first day's Eastern Plains Athletic Conference Tournament action. Still, others were still digging out cash at the ticket gate.
A few quarters in, it was evident that the fans weren't the only ones that either were or weren't ready for EPAC to start. The Tatum Coyotes were ready from the start, scoring the first nine points en route to a 62-39 win over Floyd Wednesday afternoon.
In Wednesday's other games, Logan topped Dora 54-39, Fort Sumner routed Melrose 56-36 and Grady beat Portales' junior varsity 55-41 in the late contest.
Tatum (3-6), led by Celeste Jimenez' 18 points, moves on to a 3 p.m. second-round matchup against top-seeded Texico (9-3).
"Some reward, isn't it?" Roybal said with a laugh as Texico's girls team walked past. "We've got to focus. They're big, physical ... lots of experience."
Abigail Duran added 13 for the Coyotes, who never trailed and led by as many as 28 in the second half. They pretty much had the game on ice after the first, which Jimenez ended with a trey as the buzzer sounded at Texico's auxiliary gym.
"Sometimes it just happens that way," Roybal said. "We just tried to run offense and defense."
So did Floyd (2-7), but by the time the ninth-seeded Broncos got any momentum going, the hole was a little too deep to escape.
"They came out ready to play, and we didn't," Floyd coach Dawn Kuchta said. "Our third and fourth quarters were great. I want us to start games the same way we finish."
They'll have their next chance today against Melrose, who fell to Fort Sumner 56-36. That game is at 4:30 p.m. in the auxiliary gym. The Vixens earned a day off, and will play the Tatum-Texico winner in a 7:30 p.m. Friday semifinal at Greyhound Arena.
Anahi Chavez scored 12 points to lead Floyd, while Cree Barber added 10.
Logan 54, Dora 39
Kaylee Foote scored 18 to lead three Longhorns in double figures, and third-seeded Logan had little problem with the Coyotes.
Harlie Roach added 17 and Karli Webb 11 for Logan, which will resume its tournament Friday at Eastern New Mexico University's Greyhound Arena. It will face the winner of today's Elida-Grady contest in a 4 p.m. semifinal.
Brenna Bates and Kimberlee Rains each scored 12 for Dora, which will face the Portales JV in the 7:30 p.m. game at the THS auxiliary gym.
