KC, Gallup girls ranked No. 1, 2 in state seeding

WINDOW ROCK

The top two teams in District 1-4A were tabbed the No. 1 and 2 seed for the upcoming New Mexico Class 4A girls’ state playoffs.

On Sunday, the New Mexico Activities Association announced the state seedings for all 10 brackets from 1A to 5A for both boys and girls.

The Kirtland Central Lady Broncos and the Gallup Lady Bengals earned the top two seeds as the playoffs are set to start with first round games on Friday for girls and Saturday for boys.

“It’s an honor but we still got a long way to go,” KC coach Devon Manning said of garnering the top seed.

With a lot of parity this year, Manning said both sides of the bracket field some strong teams.

“I think both sides are pretty even,” he said. “I just think there’s always chances for upset. There is no walk-in-the-park games this year.”

KC opens the 16-team bracket with district foe Miyamura on Friday.

Gallup, meanwhile, begins its state title defense against No. 15 Chaparral.

“I think we’re in a very good spot to make some noise,” Gallup coach Todd McBroom said. “When I wrote out my bracket last night that is who I had us playing.”

Girls’ matchups

In 5A, the Farmington Lady Scorps got the No. 4 seed, and they will host district opponent Eldorado in the opening round.

Crosstown rival Piedra Vista, meanwhile, is making the trip to Hobbs as the No. 15 seed.

Regular season district champs Tohatchi earned the No. 2 seed in the 3A bracket, and they will entertain No. 15 Cuba on Friday.

In addition to Tohatchi, the District 1-3A also got four other teams in the playoffs for a total of five teams from the northwest district.

Navajo Prep garnered the No. 4 seed and they will host No. 13 Santa Fe St. Michael’s in the first round while No. 5 Crownpoint, the district tournament champion, is at home with No. 12 Tucumcari.

No. 8 Thoreau has No. 9 Zuni at home.

“I’m pleased with the seedings,” Tohatchi coach Tanisha Bitsoi said. “It’s great to have a good seed like that but at the same time everyone is playing hard right now, everyone is playing for the same destination, which is the state title game.

“We have to remain hungry, humble and continue to play Lady Cougar basketball,” she added.

In the 2A bracket, Rehoboth Christian got the No. 5 seed and they have No. 12 Mescalero Apache at home while No. 6 Laguna-Acoma will entertain No. 11 Lordsburg.

The To’hajiilee and Alamo Navajo girls also earned state bids in the 1A bracket with To’hajiilee getting a home game as the No. 8 seed, hosting No. 9 Reserve.

Alamo Navajo will travel to No. 5 Roswell Gateway Christian.

Boys’ matchups

Eight local teams made the playoffs in the boys’ division headed by the No. 3 seed Rehoboth Christian in the 2A bracket.

The defending state champs will host No. 14 McCurdy on Saturday.

In 3A, Navajo Prep and Crownpoint will also host on Saturday with No. 5 ’Prep drawing No. 12 West Las Vegas while Crownpoint got the eighth seed over No. 9 Santa Fe Prep.

The Tohatchi boys also made the cut in the 3A bracket as the No. 13 seed and they will travel to No. 4 Santa Fe St. Michael’s.

In the 4A bracket, Gallup earned the No. 10 seed and they will travel to No. 7 Belen while Miyamura takes on No. 1 seed Highland.

Farmington earned the No. 13 seed in the 5A bracket and they will travel to No. 4 Hobbs.

In the small schools division, the Ramah Mustangs will take on No. 1 Magdalena in the 1A bracket.

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