PHS girls dealt 41-37 defeat in tourney title tilt

ARTESIA – Portales High’s girls made a strong comeback in Friday’s District 4-4A tournament championship game.

In the end, it wasn’t quite enough, though, as top-seeded Artesia notched a 41-37 victory over the Lady Rams.

“It was back and forth,” PHS girls coach Wade Fraze said. “I’m proud of the kids. We just didn’t do quite enough to win it.”

Senior guard Koda Beltran scored 11 points while senior guard Audrey Velo and sophomore post Hattie Harrison added 10 each for the Lady Bulldogs (18-8), who are ranked fifth in Class 4A by MaxPreps and have won seven in a row.

Sophomore post Evannie Fulfer had team highs of 13 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Rams (13-14), who were ranked ninth coming into the week and will learn their state tournament fate today from the New Mexico Activities Association.

Portales erased a 17-6 first-quarter deficit, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 16-4 in the second stanza to take a one-point lead into halftime. It was still a one-point advantage (28-27) heading into the final period.

Junior guard Audrey Paden added eight points, seven rebounds and three steals for the Lady Rams. Sophomore guard Angel Ornelas had seven points, four assists and three steals.

Portales 47, Lovington 34 (Thursday) – The Lady Rams avenged a home loss to the Lady Wildcats six days earlier, holding Lovington to just 11 points over the middle two stanzas to overcome an early 12-4 deficit.

“We were pretty consistent tonight,” Fraze said. “Those middle two quarters really helped us.”

Despite going without a 3 for the second game in a row, Portales was able to keep Lovington (13-13) at bay with the help of 21-of-27 free throw shooting, including 8-of-10 by junior guard Audrey Paden and 4-of-4 by freshman center Skyler Massey.

Lovington’s top scorers were junior guard Elizabeth Buendia with 12 points and freshman guard Malaiya Castro with eight.

Portales 41, Roswell Goddard 30 (Tuesday) – The Lady Rams got back to the .500 mark, winning comfortably at the RAC behind 15 points and nine rebounds from senior guard Myleigh Banda and a season-best-tying 11 points from sophomore forward Evannie Fulfer.

Goddard led 4-0 early, but the Lady Rams quickly went in front 5-4 and never relinquished the lead.

The Lady Rams outscored Goddard 14-3 in the second segment, including eight from Fulfer, to stretch a four-point lead after one period to 24-9 at the intermission. The Lady Rockets (14-13) cut a 16-point deficit in half with an 8-0 run in the first two minutes of the final stanza, but they were unable to get any closer.

“Other than that two-minute span, it was one of the best games we’ve played this year,” Fraze said. “We finally attacked the paint. We’d been hoping to see that all year.”

Senior guard Ericca Cannon, who led Goddard in scoring for the season at 14 ppg, sustained an ankle injury during the contest and was scoreless in relatively limited time. Junior center Addysen Luck led the Lady Rockets with 13 points, while sophomore forward Ashlee Buck finished with a pair of 3-pointers and nine points.