Portales moves on to Albuquerque with win over St. Michael's

Hannah Cissell's three 3-pointers in the second half carried third-seeded Portales to a 37-34 victory over 14th-seeded St. Michael's in the first round of the state girls Class 3A tournament on Friday night at the Ram Athletic Center.

"If she didn't knock down those threes," coach Clay Stout said, "we'd be in a world of hurt."

Cissell, the only senior on the Lady Rams' roster, played her last game in Portales. She led the team with 11 points, while junior Savannah Vincent added eight.

CMI correspodndent: Joshua Lucero

Portales freshman Sheraya Cox scores over a St. Michael's defender late in the second half of Friday's 37-34 win at the Ram Athletic Center in Portales.

Viola Pecos led St. Michael's (13-16) with nine points, including two 3-pointers.

"Coach Stout made good adjustments in the third quarter to get his players open," St. Michael's coach Martin Romero said. "We didn't do well with our (defensive) rotations. That's been our Achilles' heel."

Portales will square off against District 4-3A rival and No. 6 seed Lovington (19-9) at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at The Pit in Albuquerque.

Vincent dominated the baseline in the first quarter, making three easy layups, but the Lady Rams had a sloppy second quarter. Poor shooting, bad passing and butterfingers turned Portales' 10-9 lead at the quarter into a 13-12 halftime deficit.

"We weren't even giving ourselves a chance," Stout said. "We had tunnel vision."

Stout told his team to look to the opposite side of the court, away from the ball, to find open players during halftime. Cissell drained a 3-pointer on the opening play of the second half to ignite the Lady Rams' offense.

They quickly took the lead and kept it for the rest of the game. The Lady Horsemen played hard through the final seconds, with Pecos knocking down a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the game to make it close.