Lady Rams subdue Texico

PORTALES - A phrase made famous by Wayne Gretzky, and humorously co-opted by fictional Dunder-Mifflin manager Michael Scott, goes, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

You also miss 100% of the shots you don't get to take, and that summed up Portales' 63-33 win Thursday night over Texico. Behind a combination of Portales' pressure defense and a Wolverine squad low on varsity experience, a 36-turnover night doomed the visiting Wolverines from the start.

"They put pressure on our young kids and we didn't handle it well early," Texico coach Richard Luscombe said after a night his team fell behind 10-0 after turning over five of its first six possessions. "When we did, we got good shots."

So did Portales. But the Rams, led by Taris Rippee's 24 points, simply got more of them. They shot 23-of-48 on the night, versus 11-of-29 for Texico, and pushed the lead as high as 32 midway through the fourth quarter.

Junior varsity coach Emily Langan handled head coaching duties for the Rams, with Wade Fraze out for what he referred to as an administrative issue. Both he and Athletic Director Mark Gallegos declined further comment, though Gallegos said the matter wouldn't keep Fraze out of Saturday's game against Clovis.

But there weren't any hiccups with Langan calling the shots throughout.

"The thing we wanted to do (after getting the early lead) was to just made sure we held strong," Langan said. "Every possession matters, offensively and defensively. We didn't want to let up."

Texico, which got most of its buckets on press-breaker layups, was led by Rachel Rohrbach's 11-point night.

The Rams had mostly balanced scoring, with Kylyie Paden the only other player in double figures with 11 points. She and Kinzie Davis each pulled down eight boards and helped propel a 15-9 advantage on the offensive glass (27-26 overall).

"They just hurt you in so many ways," Luscombe said. "You have to have four good posts to keep up with them."