Area teams head for Bernalillo for championships
courtesy KRTN Multi-Media
NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO — The far northeast corner of New Mexico is sometimes forgotten by the rest of the state, but not when it comes to high school basketball.
New Mexico rattled the cage again this past weekend as five of the area teams, Des Moines, Cimarron, and Roy/Mosquero girls, Springer and defending state champion Maxwell boys, won their first round games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class A NM State Basketball Championships yesterday in Bernalillo.
Des Moines girls
The girls action on Friday, March 2 had five of the District 5A teams playing in the first round with #4 seed Des Moines methodically dismantling Clovis Christian for a 68 – 35 win. Des Moines was led by Angie Lopez with 16, Grace Hall with 15, Makenna Hittson with 11 and Natashia McDonald with 10.
Cimarron girls
Cimarron (#8), led by five at the end of the first quarter, but kept on the offensive as senior Reina Arguello poured in 30, Angel Gonzales contributed 16, and Samantha Ogata had 12, en route to a 73 – 45 win.
Roy/Mosquero girls
The upset win of Class A Girls in the first round was turned in by #11 Roy/Mosquero who clamped down on #6 Animas standout forward Tierney Washburn, while Riley Clavel led all scorers with 19 and Bailey Horn put in 16 for a low-scoring 40-37 victory.
Springer girls
District 5A had four representatives in the first round and the only one to not advance was the #10 Springer Lady Red Devils. They gave #7 Grady all they could handle and led by one at the end of the first quarter, were down by eight at the half, and down by five at the end of the third quarter, before running into foul trouble and falling 40 – 33.
Maxwell boys
The Maxwell Bears boys are defending State Class A Champions and began defense of their crown with a 76 -50 win over Walatowa Charter. Cody Pino and Preston Pino kept the Cougars within five at the end of the first period, but Maxwell had too much firepower in Kolton Riggs who ended the game with 33 and senior Carl Gonzales who found his shot in the second half for 13 points.
Springer boys
Springer (#6) hosted #11 Animas and the Red Devils couldn’t shake the Panthers until the fourth period. Trailing by one into the final eight minutes, Springer outscored their opponents by eight to earn a 53 – 46 win with senior Bryan Romero leading all scorers with 21.
Cimarron boys
Cimarron (#11) was hosted by #7 Floyd and was within striking distance the whole game but wound up on the short end of a 51 – 44 score.
Five of the eight quarterfinal games on Wednesday, March 7 had District 5A competitors. It all began at 8 am at Bernalillo with Des Moines Lady Demons pitted against #5 Coronado.
At 11:30 the Cimarron girls were matched against the #1 seed in the tournament, Elida.
The 3 pm contest had the Roy/Mosquero girls looking to continue the Cinderella story going up against #3 Quemado.
The boys action had #2 Maxwell facing #7 Floyd at 4:45 pm and Springer ended the quarterfinal round at 8:15 against #3 Reserve.
All games mentioned were broadcast on KRTN FM 93.9 and streamed on Network1Sports.com
