Gallup, KC girls to play in 4A state title game

ALBUQUERQUE – The 4A girls finals are set.

Top-ranked Kirtland Central (28-3) and No. 2 Gallup (29-2) advanced into Friday night’s championship game with a pair of wins on Thursday at the famed Pit in Albuquerque.

The matchup will be the fourth meeting between the two state powers with KC holding a 2-1 edge in the series. Gallup, however, won the recent meeting two weeks ago in overtime during the district tournament championship game.

The much anticipated rematch between the district rivals is expected to draw at least 13,000 fans at the UNM arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Gallup was the first to reach the title game as the Lady Bengals grinded out a 69-66 win over third seed Portales in the 8 a.m. game, while KC found a new gear to dispatch No. 4. Valencia 51-38 in the top half of the bracket as the Lady Broncos overcome a 12-point deficit in the third stanza.

“We feel good,” KC coach Devon Manning said of making the state championship game for the fifth time in the past six seasons. “But again, we didn’t come here to just play in the game. We know we got a very tall task in front of us.

“We know what they’re trying to do and they know what we’re trying to do, so it’s going to be a fun game,” he added.

After trailing 28-16 in the middle of the third, the Broncos showcased their tenacity on the defense end as KC scored 11 points off turnovers to pull within 31-29 going into the fourth.

The Broncos didn’t stop there as the Manning-coached team outscored Valencia 22-to-7 in the final eight minutes, which included 13 points off turnovers.

“The girls just dug deep defensively,” Manning said. “Again, it was all about the defense tonight because our offense wasn’t clicking until really in the middle of third quarter on.

“We got some timely steals there in the second half,” he added, “and I think we threw them off a little bit, changing up the defenses at times, especially there in the fourth quarter when we back to our zone press deal and that took them out of rhythm.”

The Broncos were led by freshman Allyson Tsosie, who finished with 13 point and 11 steals.

“I like doing both, scoring and playing defense,” Tsosie said. “When I steal the ball it gets our offense going, and (they’re) both rewarding.”

In addition to Tsosie, KC showcased its depth as seven other players got on the scoreboard with Krista Tsinigine-Yazzie adding eight points and Zoey Benally putting up seven.

The Broncos also received five each from Haylee Nocki, Kaylan Cadman and Akeelah Joe with the latter scoring all of her points at the start of the fourth quarter that gave KC the lead for good when she hit a 3 at the 6:50 mark.

“I try to focus on defense, but I felt like I needed to step up,” Joe said while acknowledging the team’s early struggles. “I got my team up and my team loves my energy, so I fed them my energy. They took it and it showed.”

Valencia got off to fast start with Jaguars hitting 9-of-28 shots that led to a 24-14 halftime lead. But in the second half, they were held to only four baskets.

“I thought we came out really aggressive, really hot, playing really good and controlling the tempo,” Valencia coach Raymond Montoya said. “But their pressure got to us in the second half. Our turnovers jumped up in the second half quite a bit, but that’s a great-coached team over there.

“We knew they weren’t going to go away and we knew coach Manning was going to have them ready after the half,” he added. “They did what they do, and they (kept) battling. I’ve seen them get down on teams before and they just battle back.”

The Jaguars, which finished the season at 25-8 overall, was led by senior Jadyn Montoya and junior Savannah Saavedra as the two players scored 18 and 10 points, respectively.

Gallup

The Bengals trailed by as much as nine points in the opening half as Portales hit some clutch 3s. The Rams made five treys, including four by senior forward Evannie Fulfer. Her fourth trifecta earned Portales a 41-32 advantage with 59 seconds left in the opening half.

“I told the girls that our transition was bad in the first half,” Gallup coach Todd McBroom said. “I mean, wide open 3s that we gave them. We weren’t matching them up in transition.

“That was the main thing we focused on at halftime was making sure out of the press we were matching up,” he added. “If you give wide open 3s, Portales has a good team and they have kids that can shoot it and they’ll knock them down. We got to make sure we’re contesting to make it difficult.”

With a better handling at closing out their shooters in the second half, Gallup only gave up two 3s after that.

Offensively, Gallup utilized its size with senior Rylie Whitehair and sophomore Kayden Tsosie creating havoc for the Portales team.

The two players combined for eight points in the third stanza as Gallup trimmed Portales’ 41-34 halftime cushion and trailed 52-50 going into the fourth.

The Bengals then used an 14-5 run, which was spearheaded by Tsosie and Whitehair, to go up 64-56 with 2:31 to go.

“Honestly, I just wanted to drive and try and score as much as I could,” said Tsosie, who tallied 10 of her 17 points in the second half. “I know my shots weren’t going in, but I knew at one point I was going to finish.”

Whitehair was equally impressive as she added a dozen of her game-best 25 points in the third and fourth stanzas.

With Gallup leading by eight points, Portales was forced to foul, and despite losing four players to fouls the Rams made one final push as a late 3 by Fulfer made the final score 69-66 in favor of the Bengals.

“Gallup is a good team,” Portales coach Wade Fraze said. “You don’t lose two games in a season and not be good. They’ve got a lot of kids that can score and we were outsized in three positions no matter who we put on the floor.

“We were outsized by height, weight and strength,” he added. “If we had that I think it would be a different story, but I wouldn’t trade my kids for anybody.”

The Rams finished the season at 20-10 with a handful of those losses coming from out-of-state competition.

---