Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ROSWELL — Portales girls coach Wade Fraze is thrilled to be off to a good start in District 4-4A, but says the work is just beginning.
The Lady Rams rolled to a 10-point, first-quarter lead on Saturday night, but had to hang on late to edge Roswell Goddard 50-47 behind 14 points from sophomore guard Taris Rippee and 12 from sophomore Kylyie Paden.
The win, in a makeup of a snowout earlier in the week, put PHS (16-6, 2-0 district) in position to take sole possession of first place against rival Lovington (11-9, 2-0), a game scheduled for Wednesday night at the RAC. The game was rescheduled from Tuesday thanks to another snowout.
“Everybody in this district is going to be dangerous,” Fraze said. “There’s not going to be a night off.”
Portales had to come from behind in the final quarter, outscoring the Lady Rockets 14-7 to erase what turned into a six-point deficit early in the period. Paden tallied seven of her points in the final canto.
“We got a big lead early and we needed every bit of it,” Fraze said. “They’ve got about three good 3-point shooters.”
Paden also had eight rebounds, three assists and four steals for the Lady Rams. Junior Kinzie Davis added eight rebounds, while Rippee collected four steals and sophomore Teagan Faust had three.
Freshman guard Ericca Cannon scored 14 points for the Lady Rockets (17-5, 0-2).
Goddard 67, Portales 64, OT (boys) — The Rams (8-14, 0-2) led much of the final three quarters, but couldn’t finish the deal late.
“We had our opportunities,” Rams coach Rickie McBroom said. “We needed to make s few more free throws down the stretch, and we had about a 10- or 12-footer (that was off the mark at the end of regulation).
“Our kids played hard the last two nights (including a home loss to Artesia on Friday), but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
Junior forward Kenevan Bailey scored a personal-best 23 points for the Rams, including a trio of 3-pointers, while senior guard Kellan Hightower finished with 18.
Meantime, Goddard (10-12, 2-0) got 23 points apiece from senior guard Brandon Montanez and sophomore guard Noah Reese. The Rockets were 19-of-24 from the free throw line, led by Reese’s 11-for-12.
