Texico teams grab ninth victories at Citizens Bank semifinals

TEXICO — The Texico boys and girls basketball teams both picked up their ninth victory of the season Friday night, and both moved on to their respective title game in the Citizens Bank Tournament.

A 10th win and a tournament title for each, however, didn’t appear to be a foregone conclusion for either.

The Texico girls used a late run to hold off Tucumcari 53-43, while the boys defeated Tohatchi in a 66-55 win that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.

The wins set up finals against Robertson for the girls and Farwell for the boys.

The girls (9-2) found themselves in a tight battle with their former district rival, as guards Baylee Sours for Texico and Ashley Shipley for Tucumcari went back and forth at each other while running balanced offenses at point guard.

The game broke to the Wolverines in the final minutes, when Sours hit a 3-pointer with 3:15 to play, the Wolverines made an interior stop on the next play and Jasmine Davalos hit another 3-pointer.

That kickstarted what would be a game-ending 9-0 run.

“It was huge to have that, because they had just cut the lead down to 1 (44-43),” Texico coach Richard Luscombe said. “That gave us a little bit of breathing room, a little bit of momentum.”

Tucumcari (6-2) couldn’t do much in the closing minutes, down 50-43 with 1:30 to go. The Rattlers had committed only two fouls to that point in the half, and burned most of the remaining clock to get to seven to put Tucumcari on the line.

“I told the girls, ‘You’re going to get fouled hard. Make sure you protect the ball, and make sure you protect yourselves,’” Luscombe said.

Sours scored a game-high 19 points, while Ashley Hill added 15 and Davalos 11. Despite their late scoring troubles, the Rattlers had a balanced attack with Aliyah Herrera scoring 10 and Shipley, Jasmine Jones and Kalani French adding nine apiece.

Robertson was expected to be a difficult test.

“They’re really good,” Luscombe said. They have some size, and they shoot the ball very well. They’ve beaten Farwell by 10, and Farwell’s beaten us twice. We’d have to work hard to get a win against them.”

The boys contest, meanwhile, lacked the drama of the girls game, as the Wolverines posted an 18-8 first quarter and built on the lead until Tohatchi dominated the fourth quarter.

“It’s peaks and valleys at this point,” Texico coach Ty Thatcher said, while also referencing Thursday’s 76-65 double-overtime win over Mora. Texico blanked the Rangers in the second session of free basketball.

The Wolverines were set to battle Farwell in the rubber match of their season series. The Steers won the most recent battle a week prior, topping Texico 61-59 in three OTs.

“They give us a few problems,” Thatcher said. “We’ve got to focus on defense, and not have breakdowns like we did tonight.”