Lady Scorps see this as the year to shine

FARMINGTON

Farmington girls’ basketball player Kiiyani Anitielu has waited patiently for a season like this.

The fifth-year varsity player has been a starter for the Lady Scorpions the past four seasons under head coach Larenson Henderson.

In her eighth-grade season, she came off the bench for then-coach Brady Rivers as Farmington earned a state playoff bid that year in New Mexico’s second largest classification.

Her freshman year, the Scorps moved to Class 5A, the state’s largest classification, and they got as far as the Elite Eight, losing to city rival Piedra Vista.

The following season they met PV again in the 5A state quarterfinals, with the same results.

The Scorps were looking to right that ship in her junior year, but they didn’t make the playoffs as the state tournament field was cut in half with only eight teams invited in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.

“That was a real heartbreaker for us because we really wanted to make it,” Anitielu said, while noting that they finished 10th in the state rankings one year ago.

Fast-forward to this year, Farmington is working its way to be one of the elite teams in the state regardless of class.

The Scorps are currently ranked No. 2 in the state with a 22-1 record behind unbeaten Albuquerque Volcano Vista (19-0).

“Honestly, it’s taken a lot of patience and time,” Anitielu said. “I mean, we’ve had some good teams in the past but I believe we can go very far this year.”

Admittedly, Anitielu said it took some time for her team to realize how good they were. In fact, it took a couple of weeks before they became fully aware of their potential.

“Our first game against Gallup didn’t go so well,” she said of the Scorps’ 57-46 win on Nov. 27.

“But when we played in the Albuquerque Academy tournament that was when we actually clicked,” Anitielu said. “We had a spark, and we started to see the bigger picture and now that’s all we’re doing, we’re trying to be one of those top teams in the state.”

Following that tournament win, the Scorps went 3-0 at the Hobbs tournament during the Christmas break and that opened a lot of eyes about the Farmington program.

“To be (22-1) right now, I never saw that happening,” Henderson said, “especially, going to the Albuquerque Academy playing some Las Cruces teams. And then going to Hobbs and playing Hobbs and some Texas teams. It’s been so surprising and I just hope we can continue it and get to that state finals.”

More than anything, Henderson would like a shot at Volcano Vista, which features five Native American players, including UNM signees Jaelyn Bates and Natalia Chavez.

“I’m just hoping we can play them this year. If we can do that it’ll be a plus for us,” he said. “I’m hoping to get them on our schedule next year because they have some caliber players that can play.

“Right now, they’re sweeping their district,” he said. “They’re beating teams by like 62-19, so there’s no one to compete with them in their district.”

As far as elite status, the Farmington coach says they still have a ways to go to be considered with teams like Volcano Vista.

“I don’t feel that way,” Henderson said when asked if his team deserves to be viewed in that respect.

“Honestly, we still have things we got to work on,” he said. “Our aggressiveness has to pick up and we need to be playing teams at that caliber to get there.

“I’m hoping to get a good schedule next year that’s going to let us play these big teams right away, so that we can play at that elite status,” he added. “We’re doing what we can right now and the girls are adjusting very well.”

The Scorps lone loss took place on Jan. 29 when they came up short to fourth-ranked Albuquerque La Cueva by a 51-49 count.

“That was tough but honestly when we watched film, it was the simple mistakes that cost us the game,” Anitielu said. “We lost by two points and it hurts. It stings to lose by a bucket, but that game is done with. It’s a loss and we have to get back into the gym and fix those mistakes.”

Henderson said La Cueva earned “a lot of hustle points” to end Farmington’s 19-game winning streak.

“We kind of stood around and watched them,” he said. “In the first quarter we didn’t get the ball and they scored.”

In the next stanza, Henderson said, the Bears got another hustle play that resulted in a late 3-pointer. Then at the end of the third, they let a La Cueva player score a layup.

“That’s seven points we gave up right there,” he said. “We just didn’t box out like we should have and, you know, we missed a lot of shots.”

Looking back, Henderson said the Bears’ speed kind of surprised them.

“We thought they were going to be quicker than us, which they were,” Henderson said of the Bears. “But we were right there with them. Maybe, we overlooked them and maybe I scared the girls because we held back some stuff.

“Now we know we can play with them,” he said. “We watched a lot of video and we were like ‘Oh, my gosh, we can’t believe we made these mistakes.’ We weren’t hustling and it caught up with us.”

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