Rams, Lady Rams notch sweep

ROSWELL – Portales High’s basketball teams picked up big road wins on Friday night against Roswell Goddard and are positioned for a strong finish to the regular season.

The Lady Rams, playing without coach Wade Fraze, avenged an earlier overtime loss at home with a 52-31 trouncing of Goddard while the boys also posted a solid win, taking down the Rockets 47-35.

With two games left, PHS squads are both second in District 4-4A at 2-2, both trailing Artesia at 4-0. The Rams and Lady Rams welcome Artesia to the RAC on Tuesday night before finishing off the regular year on Friday night against Lovington.

Sophomore guard Angelo Ornelas tallied 11 points and junior guard Audrey Paden, sophomore guard Myleigh Banda and sophomore forward Evannie Fulfer each added 10 for the PHS girls (12-11 overall), who limited Goddard (14-10, 1-3 district) to just 10 second-half points in turning a four-point lead into a runaway.

Fraze missed the game to help tend to his ailing father.

“I couldn’t be prouder of my girls and my coaching staff,” he said after the win.

Paden (nine assists) and Banda (eight rebounds) fell a bit short of double-doubles. Meantime, Fulfer had six rebounds, Banda added five assists and Ornelas chipped in four steals.

“It’s a testament to how well-prepared coach Fraze is,” said assistant Nate Chavez, who filled in for him. “These girls have a plan, and they executed it.”

No one reached double digits for the Lady Rockets, who were led by eight points from senior forward Clara Hatch.

Boys – Senior guard Davian Lucero scored 12 points and sophomore guard Paxton Culpepper added 11 for the Rams (15-9), who erased a 10-6 deficit at the quarter and steadily pulled away.

“We played really well,” PHS boys coach Randy McBroom said. “We knew they didn’t have a lot of depth, so we pressured them and got them sped up.

“It’s a huge win for us. We knew going in that we had to beat Goddard and we have to beat Lovington (to get second place.

McBroom said that after committing 10 turnovers in the first half, the Rams cut that to just five over the final two cantos.

Six-foot-4 freshman Carson Pfaffenberger saw his most extensive action of the season, contributing seven points and a team-leading six rebounds for PHS. Senior guard Xodus Gomez led the Rams with four steals while Lucero had three assists.