Muleshoe squads dominate

MULESHOE — You could say that both games on Friday night between Muleshoe and Amarillo Highland Park were a little rough around the edges.

Not that it really mattered much, especially after the early going. The Lady Mules held Highland Park scoreless for nearly seven minutes at the start and cruised to a 58-32 victory, while the Mules also dominated early en route to a 41-29 win.

It was the start of a busy weekend for Muleshoe squads, who were slated to host Springlake-Earth in a Saturday afternoon twin bill. The Lady Mules (3-5) went into that one looking for a bit of revenge after dropping an early-season matchup with the Lady Wolverines.

Kylie Hernandez made a trio of 3-pointers and scored a season-best 15 points as Muleshoe posted its second consecutive win. The Lady Mules led 22-2 at the quarter, scoring the game’s first 20 points, before Highland Park (0-3) played them a bit more evenly the rest of the way.

“She had a good game,” Muleshoe girls coach Kim Chaffin said of Hernandez. “We played well and gained some confidence. We had a few people missing the first time we played Springlake-Earth, so it’ll be interesting to see what it looks like this time.”

Defensively, Muleshoe harassed the young Lady Hornets — seven of their nine players were sophomores — into 25 turnovers and limited them to just eight field goals. Meantime, all 11 Lady Mules in uniform contributed to the scoring column.

Chaffin regularly subbed three, four or five players at a time, experimenting with various combinations. “We wanted to make sure we got all of the different groups in there,” she said.

Sophomore Cassie McClung took game honors with 17 points for Highland Park.

In the boys tilt, Muleshoe (2-1) led 12-1 early in the second quarter after a driving basket by senior Victor Velasquez. At that point, the Hornets (0-2) had 12 turnovers.

It didn’t get much better after that for Highland Park. Although they did manage to close to 19-14 at halftime, the Hornets finished the night with just nine field goals and a whopping 30 floor errors.

“We do take pride in our defense,” Mules coach Humberto Gonzalez said. “We took seven charges tonight. That’s a big deal and (something) we work on every day.”

Junior forward Brennen Davis was the only player on either side to reach double digits, finishing with 11 points for the Mules. Freshman Cade Seaman led the Hornets with nine points.

Davis wasn’t about to apologize for his squad’s lack of style points.

“We just stuck to Muleshoe basketball, with hard work and defense, and keep attacking on offense,” he said. “It’s ‘blue collar’ basketball, as Coach G says.”

Most of the Mules players aren’t that far removed from the football season. The team has also dealt with a couple of covid-related cancellations.

“Coach has done a good job of getting us ready for the long road ahead,” Davis said. “Hopefully, we can eventually shake off the rust.”

In other girls action on Friday:

Bovina 56, Hart 25 — Nine players scored for the Fillies (3-1), who led 19-4 at the quarter and never looked back.

Senior Ana Gaby Cecenas scored 10 points for Bovina, followed by juniors Kate Saenz and Naveah Lescano with nine and eight, respectively. Meantime, Kryslynn Valdez finished with 13 points for the Lady Longhorns.

In other boys contests:

Farwell 59, Tulia 42 — Leading 20-10 at halftime, the Steers erupted for 39 second-half points and led by as much as 22 down the stretch.

Senior Jonathan Mora tied a season-best with 23 points for Farwell (4-1), and senior Jose Rodriguez added 14. Junior Adrian Brookins topped the Hornets (1-1) with 11 points.

Bovina 63, Hart 25 — At Bovina, the Longhorns grabbed a 10-7 lead at the quarter, but were routed the rest of the way as the Mustangs improved to 2-0 for the season.

Junior Angel Lara sparked Bovina with 21 points, while senior Jose Mata added 10.