Lady Rams win pair in first day of tourney

DIMMITT, Texas — The kids got off to a pretty good start on Thursday for the Portales Lady Rams.

Portales won twice in the 12-team Dimmitt Invitational, beating Texline 31-17 and Sundown 51-49 to move into a 3 p.m. (MST) semifinal matchup today against Littlefield.

Freshman forward-post Kambrey Blakey scored 11 points against Texline and 14 against Sundown, including 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the latter contest. Freshman guard Sheraya Cox added 23 points, including 16 against Sundown.

In fact, the Lady Rams won that game at the line, sinking 27-of-36 free throws to 13-of-22 for the Lady Roughnecks.

Junior post Savannah Vincent added 13 points for the Lady Rams in the Sundown clash.

"It was back and forth," Lady Rams coach Clay Stout said of the second game. "They had some really nice players, some kids who were hard to stop."

Junior post Brielle McGruder led the Lady Roughnecks (6-5) with 14 points.

In the morning contest, the Lady Rams held a small lead most of the way through before breaking it open in the final stanza with a 12-3 run.

Senior guard Audrey Martinez had 10 points for the Lady Tornadoes.

Thursday

Dimmitt Invitational

First round

Portales 31, Texline 17

Portales (1-0) — Bailey Rowley 1 0-0 2, Sheraya Cox 2 3-5 7, Hannah Cissell 2 0-0 4, Kambrey Blakey 4 3-8 11, Kacie Terry 1 0-0 2, Savannah Vincent 1 3-4 5. Totals 11 9-17 31.

Texline — Emily Lobley 1 0-0 2, Wendi Day 2 0-0 4, Audrey Martinez 3 2-3 10, Dakota Horner 0 1-2 1. Totals 6 3-5 17.

Portales 5 9 5 12 — 31

Texline 2 5 7 3 — 17

3-pointers — Portales, none. Texline, Martinez 2.

Quarterfinals

Portales 51, Sundown 49

Portales — Cox 4 8-13 16, Brooke Lopez 0 1-2 1, Blakey 2 10-10 14, Kacie Terry 1 3-4 5, Savannah Vincent 4 5-7 13, McKenzie Bucksath 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 27-36 51.

Sundown (6-5) — Evans 3 0-0 6 , Villarreal 1 0-2 2, Thoms 1 0-0 2, Hodge 1 0-0 2, Bailey 2 2-2 6 , Sanchez 3 0-0 8, Marek 1 7-8 9, McCruder 5 4-10 14. Totals 17 13-22 49.

Portales 10 17 9 15 — 51

Sundown 10 13 11 15 — 49

3-pointers — Portales, none. Sundown, Sanchez 2.