Lady Rams prevail in OT

Poor free throw shooting nearly cost Portales High's girls their District 4-4A and regular-season finale against Lovington on Friday night at the Ram Athletic Center.

They recovered in overtime, though, scoring the final eight points to eke out a 62-57 victory over the Lady Wildcats and claim the No. 2 seed behind Artesia in this week's district tournament.

Third-seeded Lovington (15-11, 2-4 district) hosts Roswell Goddard at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, with that winner traveling to the RAC for a 6 p.m. semifinal tilt on Thursday. That winner plays at top-seeded Artesia in Friday's 5:30 p.m. finals.

Sophomore forward Skyler Massey posted a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds and scored seven of her 16 points in the OT as the Lady Rams (19-7, 4-2) erase. Junior guard Myleigh Banda also had 16 points and collected seven caroms, while senior guard Audrey Paden added 12 points and nine caroms and junior guard Angel Ornelas finished with 11 points, eight assists and seven steals.

PHS lost track of the basket from the foul line in the final quarter, making just one of its 12 attempts. Senior guard Liz Buendia went 1-for-2 from the line with five seconds left to send it into OT at 49-49.

"I think we came ready to play," Paden said. "If we would've made some free throws, I think we would've won without the overtime."

Both teams had limited foul trouble at halftime, but that changed quickly – especially for Lovington, which lost four players to disqualification.

"It wasn't a perfect game, but the girls came ready to play," Lady Rams coach Wade Fraze said. "The way we played in that first half (leading 26-17 at the intermission) helped us withstand their runs."

Sophomore Ashelynn Borunda led the Lady Wildcats with 15 points while Buendia added 13 – all in the second half and overtime. Fraze said he made it a point not to led Buendia beat his team after she scored 28 in a win over PHS earlier at Lovington.

"We'll probably see this team again next week," Fraze said. "I think this will help our (Class 4A state) seeding. It's a good springboard going into the district tournament."

Artesia 40, Portales 33 (Tuesday) – The Lady Rams outscored Artesia 16-6 in the second quarter for a seven-point halftime lead, but managed only 11 second-half tallies as the Lady Bulldogs pulled away to all but lock up the 4-4A regular-season crown.

PHS went just 1-for-15 from 2-point range after the intermission, Fraze noted.

"When you go 1-for-15 from 2-point for a half, you're not going to beat very many teams," he said. "We were getting shoots we wanted, but they were just rimming out."

Senior post Lorin Wagner scored 12 points and junior forward Hattie Harrison added 11 for Artesia (19-6, 5-1 district after beating Roswell Goddard on Friday night).

Paden scored 10 points for the Lady Rams, who compounded their problems with 21 turnovers, including 11 in the second half.

Meantime, Ornelas did not score, but led the team with seven rebounds and seven assists while Banda had four steals.