Bloomfield beats KC High in neck-and-neck contest, 45-43

KIRTLAND, N.M.

The Bloomfield High School Lady Bobcats won’t go down with out a fight.

It’s a concept they and their coaches already knew about them, but something they proved to everyone else when they defeated Kirtland Central High School 45-43 over the weekend in 5A District 1 action.

Bloomfield head coach Tom Adair said his team’s resiliency won them their third straight district game.

“We told them they could win, and they came out and did what they had to to win,” Adair said. “Our girls have a never-die attitude and they believe they can win.”

That was evident early in the game when the two teams were neck-and-neck for most of the first-half. Bloomfield set the tempo leading 12-10 after the first quarter.

The Lady Bobcats found themselves down by at least 10 in the second quarter before coming back with six. Kirtland Central outscored them 15-7 to lead 25-19 at the half.

The Lady Broncos had a fairly strong start in the first half despite their trouble taking care of the ball.

Adair said his team pulled themselves together just before the half, something they’ve done on a number of occasions.

“We were down by 10, Bloomfield teams in the past would have given up thinking it was over, but we didn’t, we fought back,” he said. “We were down by six at halftime and we fought and we’ve done that all year.”

The third quarter belonged to Bloomfield.

The Lady Bobcats went on a 9-0 run, half of which came from the free throw line, to tie up the game 26-26.

Bloomfield outscored Kirtland Central 11-5 and evened things out again on the scoreboard to tie the game 30-30 after three quarters.

Adair said the seniors and leaders on his team changed the game for Lady Bobcats, especially when they drew fouls.

“Our seniors stepped up big tonight, Kara Watchman, Destiny Walther a senior, all the seniors. Kara had eight free throws so that was huge,” Adair said.

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