Texico, Farwell girls post victories in semifinals

TEXICO - It's been four years since Texico's girls have reached the finals of their Citizens Bank tournament.

They took care of that on Friday night, rallying past Tularosa 52-47 in a semifinal matchup. Their reward? A rematch with border rival Farwell in Saturday's finals.

The Lady Blue (11-3), who handed Texico a 73-9 loss in last week's Farwell Invitational, turned back Tohatchi 55-39 in Friday's early semifinal tilt.

Senior Maya Holman had a career night for the Lady Wolverines (4-6), pouring in five 3-pointers en route to 21 points.

"It'll be a tough game," Holman projected of the finals. "They're a good team."

In boys championship semifinals on Friday, Magdalena defeated Farwell 48-37 and Tohatchi bested Newcomb 84-52.

Tularosa (4-3) closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run for a 16-9 lead behind eight points from junior guard Maycee Griffin, but she picked up her third foul early in the second period and was relegated to the bench for a time.

Texico tied the game late in the second frame, then went on a 17-4 run in the third stanza that included five points from Holman and a pair of 3s from junior Kaya New. Texico led by twice by 14 points late before the Lady Wildcats finished on a 9-0 run.

"I just stated making them and I thought, 'Just keep shooting,'" Holman said. "I felt confident, and they kept going in."

Texico girls coach Jaylyn Cook said her team tightened up its defense after halftime. Offensively, they rode Holman's strong showing.

"I hope she continues to do that," Cook said. "She shot the ball with confidence tonight."

New, normally the team's top scorer, tallied 11 of her 14 points in the second half. Texico is just regaining the services in this tourney of senior guard Catelyn Breshears, who broke her hand in a preseason scrimmage, and was without senior post Emma Wahlen on Friday due to illness.

Griffin finished with 16 points for the Lady Wildcats, getting eight in the fourth stanza, while junior Aaralyn Stephens tallied 14.

Farwell 55, Tohatchi 39 - Junior Chloee Whitten and sophomore Makylee Baldwin each scored 14 points and the Lady Blue (12-3) broke away after leading by just three at halftime. Whitten had a pair of 3s while Baldwin collected all but two of her points after the intermission.

Junior Brooke Badonie paced the Lady Cougars (5-4) with 10 points.

Boys - Magdalena lost a couple of its top guns from last year's Class 1A state championship team, but coach Jory Mirabal is hoping his squad can make another run.

"We'll have to play a lot better than we are right now," he said. "But I think we might be in the mix at the end."

Farwell scored eight consecutive points to lead 16-12 late in the opening canto, but Magdalena (7-0) held the Steers to just 11 points over the next two stanzas and built a 17-point margin early in the final period.

"Our defense was pretty solid," Mirabal said. "To hold a team like that the way we did, that's pretty good."

Farwell (7-4) simply had trouble finding the basket. During Mag's 17-4 run in the second quarter, the Steers committed nine turnovers.

"We started off the second quarter with four straight turnovers, and that got us going in the wrong direction," said Farwell coach Shane Perkins, whose team was to face Newcomb in Saturday's third-place tilt. "When you can't score, you'd better play perfect on defense and we didn't do that either."

Six-foot-5 sophomore Joseph Zamora led Magdalena with 15 points, while senior D'Shaun Vinyard added 12.

"I kept thinking we could make a run if we'd make a shot here or there, but we couldn't do it," Perkins said.

Junior Corey Stancell topped Farwell with 12 points, and junior Jorge Vasquez added nine.

Texico 64, Tucumcari 52 (consolation semifinals) - The host Wolverines bounced back from an opening-night lost to Tohatchi, jumping on the Rattlers for the game's first eight points and never looking back.

Junior Cade Figg scored 19 points, senior Jahvon Askew added 12 and sophomore Alex Fuentes chipped in 10 for Texico (6-4), which was slated to play Jal in Saturday night's fifth-place game. Meantime, Tucumcari (3-5) got a game-high 23 points from senior Curtis Gonzales, while freshman Luis Archuleta added 12 on four 3-pointers.