Lady Rams go 3-1 at Littlefield meet

LITTLEFIELD – Senior guard Audrey Paden flirted with a triple-double on Friday as Portales High’s girls closed out play in Littlefield’s Wildcat Classic tournament with wins over Dumas 41-35 and Pecos (Texas) 53-23, the latter coming in what was essentially the seventh-place game in the 11-team tournament.

PHS (8-3), which went 3-1 in the three-day event, had its hands full with Class 3A Dumas (3-16), but used an 18-11 run in the second period to establish control against the Lady Demons. Junior forward Evannie Fulfer had 11 points, five rebounds and five steals for the Lady Rams.

“Dumas’ record is not great, but they’re already playing several of their opponents in a tough district,” PHS girls coach Wade Fraze said. “They gave us everything we wanted.”

Zulet Jaramillo netted 10 points for Dumas.

In the finale, the Lady Rams put any doubt about the outcome away quickly, outscoring the Lady Eagles 21-4 in the opening stanza. Paden finished that contest with 14 points, eight rebounds and a whopping 13 steals, while Fulfer had nine points and eight rebounds and sophomore center Skyler Massey posted seven points and a personal-best 13 boards.

Sophomore forward Layla Lane had eight points for Pecos (4-8).

“It was a good tournament for us,” Fraze said. “A lot of kids got some quality minutes today.”

PHS returns to action on Tuesday at Wolfforth, Texas against Texas Class 6A No. 4 Frenship (18-1), which is not likely to be in a hospitable mood after suffering its first loss of the campaign to Amarillo High on Dec. 18.

Levelland 37, Portales 30 (Thursday) – The teams were nip-and-tuck until the latter stages of the final stanza. Levelland scored just before the final buzzer to take its biggest lead of the contest.

Sophomore guard Presley Smith finished with 11 points and senior guard Carly Tienda added nine for Levelland, which improved to 21-1 and extended its winning streak to 16. Other than their loss at Hereford (42-37) on Nov. 17, it was the second-closest game this season for the Loboettes, ranked No. 11 in Texas Class 4A this week by MaxPreps.

For Portales, which led 16-15 at halftime and was tied 23-23 through three segments, Fulfer posted a double-double with 14 points and a personal-best 16 rebounds. Junior guard Myleigh Banda added seven points for the Lady Rams, while Paden had five rebounds and junior guard Angel Ornelas collected three steals.

Portales 66, Sundown 33 (Wednesday) – PHS dominated the Class 2A Lady Roughnecks for the first three quarters and cruised in the opening round of the tournament.

“We’ve had five days off (from competition), so we didn’t know what to expect,” Fraze said of his squad. “But I thought the girls needed the mental and physical break.”

Fulfer narrowly missed a double-double for the Lady Rams with 12 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Tya Rippee led four PHS players in double digits with a personal-best 16 points, while Ornelas added 14 points and four assists and Banda chipped in 11 points.

Sundown (9-10) got two 3-pointers and a game-high 21 points from junior forward/guard Allie McCormick, but no one else scored more than four.