Farmington girls find footing to advance to 5A quarterfinals, Area top-seeded teams also pick up wins

FARMINGTON

Other than a first quarter blip, the Farmington girls basketball team was in full control on Friday night.

The third-seeded Lady Scorps (25-4) advanced into the second round of the New Mexico Class 5A playoffs with a 75-45 win over No. 14 Los Lunas at Farmington High School.

The visiting Lady Tigers (19-11) surprised Farmington at the start of Friday’s playoff game and trailed by only one point, 14-13, at the end of the first quarter.

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The Scorps then held Los Lunas to six points in the next stanza while exploding for 23 of their own as Farmington seized a 37-19 halftime lead.

“You know, we hadn’t played for a week,” Farmington coach Thomas Adair said. “We had some turnovers, but (Los Lunas) is a scrappy team. They showed some things that we hadn’t worked on.

“They were happy to be here and they came out ready to play,” he added. “They kind of caught us by surprise, but the girls buckled down and they took care of business. Everybody got to play and I like that.”

Farmington tacked on another 26 points in the third stanza for a 63-30 cushion as most of the fourth quarter was played with a running clock.

“We were finding each other and we were knocking down our shots,” Farmington sophomore Caris Dale said of the team’s outburst.

Dale was one of 10 players to score as she finished with nine points.

The Anitielu sisters led the Scorps, combining for 50 points. Kjani, a sophomore, finished with 22 points and five treys and older sister Kapiolani, a senior, added 18.

Farmington also received eight points from junior post Ayana Toledo despite being in foul trouble in the opening stanza.

The Scorps play No. 6 Las Cruces Organ Mountain at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday in the second round inside the famous Pit on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque. Organ Mountain got by No. 11 Carlsbad, 51-47, on Friday.

The Farmington-Organ Mountain quarterfinal contest is a rematch of the Joe Armijo championship game that the Scorps won 61-50 in mid-December.

“They’re good,” Adair said of Organ Mountain. “They’re legit. They could have easily won their district but they lost to Mayfield by one point. They beat Mayfield for the district tournament championship.”

In other tournament action, the top eight seeds in 3A advanced with Tohatchi, Navajo Prep, Santa Fe Indian School and Zuni reaching the second round.

Top-seeded Tohatchi bounced No. 16 Crownpoint with a 58-37 win while third seed Navajo Prep ran past No. 14 Socorro, 73-15. SFIS, the fourth seed, posted a 58-27 win over No. 13 Newcomb and No. 8 Zuni edged No. 9 Sandia Prep by a 41-40 count.

The 3A quarterfinal pairings has No. 2 Las Vegas Robertson playing No. 7 Santa Fe St. Michael’s at 9:45 a.m. followed by the Navajo Prep squaring off with No. 6 West Las Vegas at 1:15 p.m., the SFIS/Tucumcari match at 4:45 p.m. and the Tohatchi/Zuni contest at 8:15 p.m. Those games will all be played at the Rio Rancho Events Center on Tuesday.

In 4A, Kirtland Central, Gallup and Bloomfield also advanced.

The top-ranked KC girls defeated district rival Aztec by a 57-25 count. Fourth seed Gallup took care of No. 13 Pojoaque Valley 69-29 while No. 7 Bloomfield defeated No. 10 Los Alamos, 49-35.

The 4A quarterfinals has No. 3 Artesia playing No. 11 Deming at 8 a.m., Bloomfield meeting No. 2 St. Pius X at 11:30 a.m., Gallup taking on No. 5 Portales at 3 p.m. and KC squaring off with No. 8 Los Lunas Valencia at 6:30 p.m. All 4A games are being played at the Pit in Albuquerque.

In 2A, Laguna Acoma advanced with a 46-40 win over Questa in the No. 8-9 matchup. Laguna Acoma takes on top-seeded Mesa Vista at 6:30 p.m. at the RREC on Tuesday.

No. 7 Dulce also moved into the second round with a 49-45 win over No. 10 Texico as the Hawks have No. 2 Tatum in the next round with the game scheduled for 8 a.m.

In the 1A bracket, No. 12 To’hajiilee came up short to No. 5 Magdalena, 47-39. No. 13 Pine Hill lost to No. 4 Fort Sumner/House 65-41. Alamo Navajo, the No. 14 seed, lost to No. 3 Logan, 78-29.

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