Farwell squads advance

LEVELLAND, Texas – Farwell’s basketball teams continued their surge through the Texas Class 2A playoffs, extending lengthy winning streaks in the process.

At South Plains College, the top-ranked Lady Blue ran off their 19th consecutive victory, including four in the postseason, bolting to a 23-1 second-quarter lead en route to a 43-26 win over Christoval. Farwell (33-3) faced seventh-ranked Wellington (28-6) in Saturday’s regional final with a trip to Thursday’s state semifinals in Austin on the line.

Against Christoval (30-8), which saw its 14-game winning streak come to an end, the Lady Blue connected on six 3-pointers. Three came in the first stanza, capped by junior Kennady Waldrop’s trey which made it 17-0 at the end of one period.

After a free throw by junior Jordan Walker got the Lady Cougars on the board, junior Bella Jaime and senior Kennedi Richey nailed 3s to cap the early run. Christoval eventually closed to 24-14 at halftime, but got no closer.

No one reached double figures for the Lady Blue. Whitten led the scoring with three 3s for nine points, while Kennedi Richey and Jaime each had seven points and juniors Landri Richey and Makylee Baldwin netted six apiece.

Junior Halle Hughes was the game’s high scorer with 12 points for Christoval.

In boys area (second) round action, Farwell held Stratford to 11 second-half points and pulled away to a 60-44 victory in a game played at Amarillo H.S. The Steers (25-9), who have won 14 in a row, meet Floydada (28-8) in a regional quarterfinal game on Tuesday at Lubbock Christian’s Rip Griffin Center, with the time to be determined.

Stratford (10-11) pulled to 34-33 at halftime by outscoring the Steers 21-14 in the second quarter, but it was all Farwell after that. Junior Ryder McElroy scored a personal-best 33 points for the Steers, while sophomore Hudson Agee chipped in 10.

For the Elks, 6-foot-4 senior Lane Uttley had 14 points and freshman Chase Lantelme tossed in 11.

In New Mexico area boys play on Friday:

Texico 76, Pecos 63 – The host Wolverines extended their winning streak to seven and completed a perfect run through District 6-2A, outscoring the Panthers 22-17 in the third quarter to open a 12-point lead. Texico (15-10, 6-0 district) will host the district tourney finals at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Senior Cade Figg scored 20 points and senior Daltyn Cain and freshman Jett Curtis netted 11 each for the Wolverines. Senior Lawrence Ragland tallied four 3-pointers – all in the third quarter – and finished with 25 points for Pecos (16-10, 3-3).

In girls contests:

Pecos 45, Texico 35 – The Lady Panthers (20-6, 6-0) locked down a regular-season sweep of the district despite going scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Junior Natalia Stout funneled in 22 points for Pecos, while senior Sonia Ortiz topped the defending 2A champion Lady Wolverines (10-14, 2-4) with 12 points.

Melrose 41, Gateway Christian 25 – In non-district play at Melrose, senior Karlee Elliott scored 14 points, including all 12 for the Lady Buffs in a 12-6 run that broke open a two-point game.

Sophomore Skyla Wicker added nine points and senior Graci Odom eight for Class 1A fourth-ranked Melrose (20-5), which led 13-0 before Gateway rallied back. Senior Emily Martin paced the Lady Warriors (15-10) with eight points.