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Lady Rams breeze in Stanton finale

STANTON, Texas — After a couple of tough tests earlier in Stanton’s Pinky Jones Hooptown Classic, Portales High’s girls closed out the event with a blowout win.

The Lady Rams (6-1) completed a four-game sweep in the event with a 67-29 rout of Lamesa on Saturday afternoon.

PHS was slated to face the only team it has lost to on Tuesday night when it visited Levelland.

The Lady Tornadoes (1-11) were simply no match on Saturday. Portales opened an 18-7 lead at the quarter and cruised from there.

“We got to play everybody a lot,” Lady Rams coach Wade Fraze said. “I got to look at a lot of different combinations.

“There were times where we executed well and times where we didn’t look as good.”

Senior guard Taris Rippee nearly outscored Lamesa by herself, finishing with three 3-pointers and 28 points. Meantime, senior post Kylyie Paden added 15 points and six steals.

Senior post Adrianna Garcia led the team in both rebounds (10) and assists (6). Sophomore Audrey Paden and freshman Evannie Fulfer contributed six rebounds apiece.

After Tuesday’s game, the Lady Rams aren’t slated to return to action until they host Brownfield in a 4:30 p.m. tipoff on Monday at the RAC.

Mayfield outlasts Lady Cats — Playing its second game in a row, Mayfield had just enough to hold off Clovis High’s girls 54-49 in Saturday’s Rio Rancho Invitational fifth-place matchup.

The Lady Trojans (5-3) were slated to face St. Pius in a consolation semifinal on Friday, but that game was canceled due to COVID-19 protocals for the Sartans. Instead, not wanting to lose a game on the schedule, Mayfield beat Grants 67-46 in what would’ve been the seventh-place contest before taking on Clovis.

Mayfield opened a 16-8 lead at the quarter, and that essentially turned out to be the difference. The Lady Trojans never relinquished the lead, but CHS (5-3) kept the game tight down the stretch.

“We played even (17-17) in the second quarter,” CHS girls coach Jeff Reed said. “In the third quarter we had a chance to get closer, but all we could do was get one point farther away.”

Trailing by nine, the Lady Wildcats again scored 17 points in the final stanza, but Mayfield kept them at bay with solid free throw shooting.

“We got it within four, but we could never get over the top,” Reed said.

Senior guard Maggie Salas scored 20 points for the Lady Trojans, hitting 9-of-10 free throws in the final canto and finishing 10-of-12 overall. Sophomore guard Victoria Kirker added three 3-pointers and 12 points.

For the Lady Cats, junior guard/post Ali Thomas led the way with 15 points, and sophomore guard Zarai Lewis added a couple of 3s and 14 points.

CHS is idle until the weekend, hosting Cibola at 7 p.m. on Friday night and traveling to Alamogordo for a Saturday afternoon contest.

 
 
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