Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
LITTLEFIELD — Three quarters down, and the Portales girls basketball team was cruising to a fifth-place finish in the Littlefield Wildcat Invitational. Challenged by their own youth and shorthanded by injuries, Portales still managed to carve out a 45-26 advantage.
But in a season where little has come easy, Saturday didn’t either. Still, the Rams hung on against a red-hot Roughneck fourth to pull out a 47-44 victory to go strong into an idle week.
“We just went ice cold, we turned the ball over and they could not miss,” Fraze said of the 18-2 blitz survived by the Rams (5-6). “They hit four 3s in the fourth. If they put it up, it went in.”
The Rams hung onto a 45-44 lead, when Codi Flores and Taris Rippee caused a turnover. Rippee hit both free throws with six seconds left for Portales’ only points of the period, and that was enough to survive Sundown (10-11), which Fraze discovered had a similar fourth quarter in a 45-40 loss against Goddard two weeks ago.
Sophomore Mattison Blakey scored 16 points to lead Portales, including nine of her 16 in the first to actually outscore the Roughnecks 9-7 for the quarter.
“She was just aggressive,” Fraze said. “Mattison had three really strong games for us. She’s coming into her own as a leader. She’s playing with confidence. She’d get offensive rebounds, score inside with good power moves.”
Rippee added eight, while Riley Shillings had seven for Portales, which beat Muleshoe 51-49 before falling to Wellington 52-33.
“I feel good about (the overall tournament),” Fraze said. “Two of the games, we had to pull out tight ballgames. That’s good for us. I’d rather have a game like the last one, under those circumstances, than a 20-point win. They need the experience and the confidence to know they can pull out a tight ballgame.”
Portales doesn’t play again until it hosts Roswell Tuesday, followed by Gallup Jan. 10, Pojoaque Jan. 11 and Carlsbad Jan. 12 in its own Portales Shootout. Fraze said the team needs the week of practice, since it only got one practice prior to the games in Littlefield after Christmas break.
