Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES — Carsyn Boswell had 23 points, and the Carlsbad Cavegirls controlled the fourth quarter in a 45-33 win Saturday night to close out a 3-0 run in the Portales Shootout.
Kaliyah Montoya scored eight of her 14 in the fourth quarter for the Cavegirls (14-2), who bolstered their resume with wins over Gallup Friday and Pojoaque Valley on Thursday.
A young Portales squad cut a double-figure lead to 32-30, with a Codi Flores 3-pointer ending the third quarter.
“Being 10 down at halftime to a team of Carlsbad’s caliber, that can go in any direction,” Portales coach Wade Fraze said. “They’re big, they’re strong, they’re fast. They can all handle the ball. They can shoot; they’ve got three deadly shooters. We changed some things up strategy-wise at halftime, but the biggest thing is the kids not giving up.”
The Cavegirls responded with a 9-2 run that included a Tori Flores 3-pointer and a Boswell transition layup with 2:23 to play.
“I told them at halftime it’s either going to be a dogfight or we’re going to end this,” Carlsbad coach John Lee Zumbrun said. “They played harder. There’s not much to it. We ran the same stuff. They pretty much ran the same stuff. They got some rebounds, hit some 3s and came out with a little bit more energy.
“We’ve been in this situation a few times, and we’ve got smart players who don’t panic. We hit some shots, which is a remedy for everything. We’re not necessarily a pressing team, but we felt we could wear them down. I don’t know if we had fresh legs, but that was our philosophy going in.”
Portales, led by Taylee Rippee’s 15 points, challenged Carlsbad throughout but like most teams in the state had difficulty defending Boswell on the pick-and-roll with either Montoya or Jordan Boatwright.
Rippee, welcomed back to the Ram lineup this week after missing time with a dislocated shoulder, earned most of her points on a 9-of-10 effort at the free-throw line and averaged just over 19 points over four games on the week.
Portales went 0-3 at the Shootout and 1-3 on the week with a Tuesday win over Roswell. But coach Wade Fraze considered the tournament with Gallup and Pojoaque to be a great learning experience.
“I don’t know of any tournament or three-game situation we could get in much tougher than this. A regular tournament, we’d have seen (a lesser team) in a loser’s bracket.”
Portales travels to Moriarty Friday.
