Lady Rams finish off unbeaten 4-4A slate

LOVINGTON — There wasn’t much on the line against an overmatched Lovington squad on Friday night, but Portales High’s girls took care of business quickly and efficiently.

PHS put together a 24-4 run in the opening quarter and cruised to a 69-24 District 4-4A victory over the Lady Wildcats, completing a perfect run through the district slate.

Portales (9-1, 6-0 district), whose only loss came to Class 5A top-ranked Hobbs, was awaiting its spot in the eight-team Class 4A state tournament, an announcement to be made by the New Mexico Activities Association on Saturday night. The Lady Rams figured to get a No. 1 or 2 seed and, if so, home games in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night and, if they were to win, the semifinals on Thursday as well at the Ram Athletic Center,

The championship game is slated for Saturday at The Pit in Albuquerque.

Senior guard Mattison Blakey scored a season-best 15 points and delivered four of Portales’ eight 3-point baskets in the contest. She also posted a double-double with a team-leading 10 rebounds, and added three steals and a pair of assists.

“Our girls were just trying to do what they do and let it be a tuneup for the playoffs,” coach Wade Fraze said. “We played reasonably well, and I was able to play everybody quite a bit.”

Junior guard Taris Rippee added 11 points for PHS, which got scoring contributions from nine players.

Meantime, it was the end of a nightmarish season for the Lady Wildcats (1-10, 0-6), who lost the earlier matchup to PHS 64-14 at the RAC. Junior Celeste Dominguez led Lovington with 11 points, but no one else had more than five.

Portales 63, Artesia 43 — Any slight doubt about the district race was put to bed early by the Lady Rams, who opened a 32-20 halftime lead over the host Lady Bulldogs (3-8, 2-4), officially clinching the crown and locking up a state berth.

Steals by Rippee and junior guard Teagan Faust were turned into layups by junior post Kylyie Paden in the closing seconds of the half, and PHS was never threatened after that.

“We were more consistent,” Fraze said. “We didn’t have a terrible quarter or half like we’ve had in some games.”

Paden led four Portales players in double digits with 21 points while Blakey added 12, including a pair of first-quarter 3s that helped stake the Lady Rams to a 17-11 advantage. Meantime, Rippee finished with 11 points and junior Adrianna Garcia netted 10.

Junior Cora Cox was Artesia’s only double-figure scorer with 14 points.