Farmington girls draw up competitive schedule

GALLUP – To be the best, you have to play the best.

That’s the mantra the Farmington girls basketball team will be living by under second-year coach Thomas Adair.

The Lady Scorps have compiled a tough schedule as Farmington will play a handful of its peers at the 5A level as those teams have a legitimate shot at a state title.

“We’re excited,” Adair said. “Our kids are just hungry and they want to get out and play. They want to be a part of something special.”

Farmington enters this week’s Albuquerque Academy tournament with a 3-0 record, having already beaten the likes of Durango (Colorado), Gallup and Navajo Prep.

“There’s a bunch of (Las) Cruces teams that will be there,” Adair said of the Academy tourney that starts today.

Later this month, Farmington will make a return trip to the Hobbs Holiday Classic, a tournament the Lady Scorps won two years ago against the host team. Hobbs is the defending 5A state champs.

“Hopefully, we’ll get to play Hobbs for the championship game,” Adair said. “We’ll play them right before our district season starts.”

That game is scheduled for Jan. 19 and it will be played at Moriarty High School, which is 40 miles east of Albuquerque.

Farmington will then travel to Sandia on Jan. 23 to start district play. The District 2-5A race is expected to be competitive with Sandia, Farmington, La Cueva and Eldorado in the mix for a district crown.

“I think our district is one of the strongest in the state,” Adair said. “I mean, Sandia just blew out Volcano Vista and then La Cueva gave Hobbs everything they wanted. In fact, they probably should have won the game last year in the state tournament in the semifinals.

“You got Eldorado and Bella Hines, one of the best players in the state, if not the best player,” he added.

The Adair-coached team has some unfinished business to settle when it opens the Academy tourney with Las Cruces, a squad that upset Farmington last season in the Class 5A state quarterfinals. Tipoff is scheduled at 3 p.m. today.

Last season, the Lady Scorps had Las Cruces on the ropes with a 14-point lead with three and a half minutes remaining. But with one last gasp, Las Cruces sent the game into overtime and won 62-60.

“We didn’t play our best game with them (at state), so we have a chip on our shoulders,” Farmington senior Kapiolani Anitielu said. “We’re going into every game knowing that we got to play and work hard even though we’re up. We still gotta build that lead.”

Last week, the Lady Scorps showed why they’re a threat to challenge for the 5A crown. Farmington set the tone early with a 14-0 lead against Gallup, the defending 4A state champs.

That fast start was aided by Farmington’s relenting defensive pressure as the Lady Scorps posted a 57-41 win.

“Steve Scott taught me years ago that you win games in the first quarter,” Adair said of the former Bloomfield, Kirtland Central and Chinle boys coach.

“We got that big lead and really they never caught up,” he said. “It always makes a difference when you come out and establish yourself like that.”

Farmington’s entire starting lineup scored during that torrid start with senior Maleah Charlie and sophomore Caris Dale leading the charge with a pair of buckets.

Gallup finally got on board when freshman post Kayden Tsosie hit 1-of-2 free throws at the 3:53 mark. The Lady Bengals closed Farmington’s big lead down to 18-7 heading into the second.

“When you give up wide open layups and they go on a (14-0) run, it’s hard to overcome that,” Gallup coach Todd McBroom said. “Farmington is real long and lengthy compared to our guards but I thought we did a better job in the second half.

“We just can’t give them a start like that,” he added.

Having graduated a ton of guards last season, the Gallup team used several rotations against Farmington. In fact, McBroom was mixing and matching players to find what worked best.

“I knew this season more than any other season that we were gonna see a ton of growth from our kids,” the Gallup coach said. “Guard-wise, we basically have Ashlee Duboise with a little bit of experience who played meaningful minutes last year.

“The rest of them were either on the bench or not playing varsity,” he added. “I’m hoping by the time we get to mid-January they’re settled in and a little bit more mature so that we can make another run at (a state title).”

McBroom acknowledged that it’s quite different playing Farmington with the style that they play. Moving forward, he expects most teams in 4A to play zone against them since he has a pair of post players in junior Ryle Whitehair and freshmen Kayden Tsosie.

“There’s not going to be many teams that will play us man because we’re just so big inside,” he said. “As the season progresses, these young guards are going to grow and tonight they grew.”

One of those emerging guards led Gallup, as junior Alysha Slinkey finished with a team-best nine points. Whitehair, the lone returner, added eight.

For Farmington, Charlie finished with 17 points, which included three treys. Anitielu added 10 and Dale finished with eight.

“Maleah had a big game for us,” Adair said.

Of the three leading scorers, Charlie and Anitielu are returning players that saw significant time on the court last season. So did sophomore Kjani Anitielu, Kapiolani’s younger sister.

“We have five underclassmen that are getting a lot of playing time,” Adair said. “Sugar (Kapiolani) and Maleah are our leaders and they’re seniors. We also have Kate Pete and she’s like my Energizer Bunny. She always says the right thing at the right time, so she’s just a great captain.”

As for the younger talent like Chenoa Parris, Ayana Toledo, Taliah Woods, Aaliyah Archuleta and Dale, the Farmington coach believes they can be a threat.

“They all have good roots,” he said.

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