Melrose rolls past Logan in finals

TEXICO – For the first time in eight years, Melrose's girls are back at the top in the EPAC basketball tournament.

And they had little trouble doing it on Saturday night. Neither did Fort Sumner on the boys' side of things.

The top-seeded Lady Buffs (12-1) outscored defending champion Logan 21-1 in the second quarter for a 29-point halftime lead en route to a 69-36 victory. Meantime, the Foxes (11-2) opened a 31-14 lead at the quarter and buried 13 3-point shots on their way to an 81-54 win over Logan in the boys finals.

After struggling to get past fourth seed Texico 32-30 in the semifinals, the Lady Buffs were never in danger in the title match. Senior Isabelle Sena led four Melrose players in double digits with 18 points, while junior Graci Odom added three 3s and 15 tallies and seniors Sorrell Allen and Paityn Nicholson chipped in 12 and 10, respectively.

Junior Liz Horner and freshman Desta Rose topped the Lady Longhorns (10-6) with eight points apiece.

In Fort Sumner's win, senior Clay Norman tallied 29 points and eighth-grader Jordan Holland 15, each knocking down five 3-pointers. Norman had three of his long-range shots and 11 points in the opening stanza.

Also in double digits for Fort Sumner were juniors Joaquin Segura with 13 points and Chance Thomson with 10. Sophomore Diego Sanchez paced Logan (11-4) with 12 points.

In other final-round games on Saturday:

Third place

Texico 59, Dora 47 (boys) – Senior Jahvon Askew collected four 3s and scored 24 points, and the Wolverines (10-5) pulled away with a 23-13 scoring edge in the third stanza. Junior Caleb Figg added 14 for Texico.

Senior Steven Masini helped keep the Coyotes (10-3) in the contest with 30 points, while senior Conner Rooney added 15.

Fort Sumner 36, Texico 24 (girls) – The second-seeded Vixens (8-5) opened a 13-3 lead at the quarter and never allowed Texico (6-9) to make a serious dent in the margin.

Senior Olivia Lucero had her way inside early with nine first-quarter tallies for Fort Sumner. She finished with 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Senior Catelyn Breshears led the way for the Lady Wolverines with 11 points.

Fifth place

Melrose 55, Grady 36 (boys) – The Buffaloes opened a 22-8 halftime lead and kept the Bronchos at arm's length the rest of the way.

Sophomore Josiah Roybal funneled in 10 points, including a pair of 3s, while sophomore Brayden Eldridge added nine for Melrose (9-3). Meantime, the Bronchos (4-5) were led by junior Zane Rush with 15 points and eighth-grader Zander Ciancio with nine.

Grady 42, Dora 32 (girls) – The Lady Bronchos rode a 21-point second quarter to a 19-point halftime cushion and stayed in command from there.

Juniors December Garza (10), Shayla White (9) and Adelina Ramirez (9) led Grady (5-4), with Ramirez getting her points on a trio of 3s. For the Lady Coyotes (9-6), junior Faith Jasso took game scoring honors with 16 points.

Seventh place

Elida 46, Floyd 38 (boys) – The Tigers led most of the way, but had to go almost to the wire to shake off the Broncos. Senior Jose Jimenez had 19 points for Elida (5-7) while his brother, junior Seth Jimenez, came in with nine.

For Floyd (3-8), junior Andrew Essary scored 10 points.

Elida 35, Floyd 31 (girls) – Floyd held a one-point lead going into the final stanza, but the Lady Tigers posted a 12-7 edge to take the victory.

Freshman Hattie Bilbrey led Elida (2-9) with 13 points. High scorer for the game was junior Jona Baros with 20 points for the Lady Broncos (2-7).