Lady Blue subdues Tucumcari

TEXICO - Tucumcari's girls did all they could to try to stay with Farwell in Friday's semifinals of the Citizens Bank tournament. The Lady Blue simply had too much firepower.

Farwell broke away from a 10-10 tie with a 22-5 blitz over the final 9 1/2 minutes of the first half, including five 3-pointers, and pulled away to a 64-42 victory over the Lady Rattlers.

Farwell (15-1) was set to face Tohatchi, a 57-29 winner over Tatum on Friday, in Saturday night's finale.

Eight players scored for the Lady Blue, led by freshman Bella Jaime with four 3-pointers and 14 points, junior Charlie May Trimble with 12 and freshman Makaylee Baldwin with 11. Meantime, junior Jaelyn Smith finished with nine points, all coming on 3-pointers.

Farwell expected a challenging matchup in the finals against the Lady Cougars (7-3), who routed Tatum 57-29 on Friday.

"The girls were talking about how they were exited for the game," Lady Blue coach Mikel Tucker said. "Hopefully, our defensive intensity picks up for that game."

Tucumcari (4-4) held three leads in the early going, but Farwell scored the final five points of the period before Trimble promptly extended the margin to 18-10 with a 3 on the first possession of the second stanza.

"It was definitely not our best game, but we toughed it out and got the win," Smith said. "We came together as a team, and we're lucky enough to be playing for the championship."

Farwell's lead grew to as much as 29 early in the final canto, although to their credit, the Lady Rattlers kept scrapping.

Eight players scored for the Lady Blue, while defensively they harassed Tucumcari into 28 turnovers.

"Anybody can go for 20 (points)," Turner said of his 11-player roster, which includes five juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen. "There's nobody who couldn't give you 10 points in a game."

Junior Alexus Lafferty and freshman Caylee Benavidez each tallied 14 points for Tucumcari, which was to meet Tatum in Saturday's third-place tilt.

In other tournament games on Friday:

Texico girls 53, Magdalena 40 - The Lady Wolverines put away the Lady Steers with an 11-2 run over the final stanza. Texico (2-5) led all the way except for a brief time in the third period.

Sophomore Kaya New knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and finished with a personal-best 25 points for Texico, which played San Jon in Saturday's fifth-place contest. Meantime, freshman Jorianne Mirabal topped Magdalena (4-4) with nine points.

Farwell boys 62, Tucumcari 42 - The Steers (9-2) bounced back from a first-round loss to Jal, erasing a two-point deficit by outscoring the Rattlers 21-7 in the second period.

Sophomore Corey Stancell scored 24 points and senior Leo Nunez 11 for Farwell, which played Tatum for fifth place on Saturday. Tucumcari (2-6) was led by 15 points from junior Curtis Gonzales, 12 from senior Andrew Henderson-Clark and 11 from senior Dominick Jasper.

Magdalena 65, Texico boys 33 - The Steers (8-0), ranked No. 1 in New Mexico Class 1A, advanced to a championship clash against Jal (8-1) on Saturday night.

Texico (4-3) actually gave Magdalena, which has outscored its first eight foes 618-213, its closest game of the season to this point. The Wolverines (4-3) hung around for a quarter, trailing 10-8, but were outscored 21-7 in the second stanza .

Senior Joran Mirabal nailed a trio of 3s and scored 23 points, including 19 during the Steers' domination of the second and third quarters. Six-foot-4 junior Kael Stevens added 18 points.

Senior Cade Collins had 10 for Texico, which faced Tohatchi for third place on Saturday.