Navajo Prep, Tohatchi, SFIS girls advance

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

RIO RANCHO – Class 3A top seed and defending state champ Tohatchi, along with No. 3 Navajo Prep and No. 4 Santa Fe Indian, advanced to today’s state semifinals in girls basketball action.

Tohatchi coasted past No. 8 Zuni, 48-16. Navajo Prep cruised over No. 9 West Las Vegas, 59-28. And Santa Fe Indian pulled away in the final minutes for a 49-40 victory, all during state quarterfinals action at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

The Class 3A state semifinals will be held today at the Rio Rancho Events Center with the Navajo Prep/No. 7 St. Michael’s matchup played earlier. St. Michael’s stunned No. 2 seed Robertson 41-39.

Tohatchi will go up against Santa Fe Indian in tonight’s late game at 8:15 p.m.

The Class 3A girls state finals is set for Friday at 3 p.m. at the Pit.

Class 3A

No. 1 Tohatchi 48,
No. 8 Zuni 16
Tohatchi shredded No. 8 seed and district opponent Zuni, 48-16, late Tuesday night in one of the state quarterfinals at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

The 24-6 Lady Cougars held Zuni (18-12) scoreless in the opening quarter for a 14-0 lead and never lost the lead. By intermission Tohatchi, which returned its entire starting lineup from last year’s state championship team, had a comfortable 31-3 lead. With the bench putting in significant playing time, Tohatchi outscored Zuni 17-13 in the second half en route to a 32-point win.

Tohatchi senior guard Brooke Badonie led the Lady Cougars with 15 points.

Tohatchi swept Zuni during the regular season, winning 60-45 and 53-39.

Zuni’s Takai Martinez was the Lady T-Bird leading scorer with just three points. The Lady T-Birds shot a miserable 15 percent (8-of-52) from the field. Tohatchi also struggled from the field, shooting 30 percent (22-of-74).

Tohatchi played successive district foes in the first two rounds at state – dumping No. 16 Crownpoint 58-37 in the Sweet 16 round and 48-16 over Zuni in the state quarterfinals.

Tohatchi will go up against No. 4 seed Santa Fe Indian, a 49-40 winner over No. 5 Tucumcari (19-9), in one of the state semifinals today. Game time is 8:15 p.m. at the Rio Rancho Events Center. The Class 3A girls state finals is Friday at 3 p.m. at the Pit.

No. 3 Navajo Prep 59,
No. 9 West Las Vegas 28

No. 3 Navajo Prep (23-9) raced to a commanding 19-4 first quarter lead and never looked back in pounding No. 9 West Las Vegas, 59-28.

In a rematch from an earlier game, the Lady Eagles posted a 31-point win after winning by 20 points, 45-25, over the Lady Dons.

By the half, Navajo Prep enjoyed a 36-14 cushion – thanks to 43 percent shooting (17-of-40). West Las Vegas (14-13) shot an abysmal 17 percent (4-of-24).

The Lady Eagles stretched their lead to 49-16 after three quarters before winning 59-28.

Navajo Prep displayed a balanced scoring attack with 11 of the 12 players breaking into the scoring column.

Navajo Prep senior Aniya Johnson finished with 13 points with Shiloh Conn with 10 points.

Veteran Navajo Prep head coach Rainy Crisp said that opponents like to key on Johnson, the team’s top player, which frees up her teammates to get open offensively.

“A lot of teams that when they scout us, when they see us, they focus on Aniya a lot,” Crisp said. “Being that we know that when she gets inside she is able to make her move and if it’s not there she has a kick out for Tru Billie or one of our other guards to knock it down. We’ve been working on our offense creating some good baskets and getting some good looks off our offense. The girls are working well together. They’re more at ease.”

The 5-foot-10 Johnson said that the entire team came out ready to play.

“Me and my teammates came out really strong,” Johnson said. “I think the pregame is what really helped us. Coming out at halftime we were able to get back up.”

In a stark contrast, West Las Vegas finished with a mountain of turnovers – 44 – due to Navajo Prep’s suffocating defensive pressure. Prep finished with less than half that with 21 miscues.

“Pressure, pressure, pressure,” Crisp said, beaming at the 44 turnovers for West Las Vegas. “Forty-four turnovers – that’s nice. We have to be disciplined on defense. Since the end of the season we’ve tightened up our defense a little bit, creating some easy baskets off our defense. The girls are really starting to understand that they can get easy baskets off of their defense. They did really good, pressure defense was great.”

Crisp said that she was surprised that No. 7 seed St. Michael’s upset No. 2 seed Robertson 41-39.

“I was very surprised,” Crisp said. “I ruined our whole scouting. Now we have to go back and scout St. Mike’s!”

The last time Navajo Prep faced St. Michael’s was last year with a state quarterfinal win.

No. 4 Santa Fe Indian 49,
No. 5 Tucumcari 40

It was a game of runs as Lady Brave junior post Emma Lewis tallied 12 of her game-high 23 in the pivotal fourth quarter to lift No. 4 Santa Fe Indian to a tough 49-40 win over No. 5 Tucumcari Tuesday during the state quarterfinals.

The 19-9 Lady Braves had the final run to escape with a nine-point win over the 23-4 Lady Rattlers.

First-year Santa Fe Indian head coach Khadijha Jackson, who coached for five years at Crownpoint, admitted that her team had an off night offensively.

“It was just an off night for us offensively,” Jackson said. “Defensively we were riding a rollercoaster tonight but we picked it up the second half a lot.

But our defense is what carries us. I just told them to be patient and trust themselves.”

The game was tied for the first time at 28-all as Tucumcari (23-4) closed out the third quarter with a nice 8-0 spurt. Holding a slim 33-31 lead in the third quarter, Lewis reeled off four straight scores that gave Santa Fe Indian a 39-33 cushion with four minutes remaining. With 1:20 left, Lewis hit a nifty left-handed turnaround jumper that made it 42-38.

A pair of free throws by Aaliyah Valencia gave the Lady Braves a little more breathing room but Tucumcari’s Caylee Benavides, who pumped in 18 points, cut SFIS’s lead down to four, 44-40.

The 5-foot-7 Lewis finished off her late scoring performance on a putback after a missed free throw by Ali Ortiz. With time running out and trailing by 6 points, 46-40, Tucumcari was forced to foul. The Lady Braves converted 3-of-6 at the line to pull away for a hard-earned 49-40 state quarterfinal win.

“When I’m on the court that’s always on my mind is the game and my team,” Lewis said. “My parents and my dad especially always say ‘Emma like you’re the leader, you have to act like one. When it’s super close, you gotta lead our team in that sense. All that was going in my mind is like hey we’re here to win. I have to leave it all out there. No regrets. Just doing what I know best.”

Class 2A

No. 1 Mesa Vista 74,
No. 8 Laguna Acoma 36

Class 2A top seed Mesa Vista jumped on No. 8 seed Laguna Acoma from the outset and rolled to a lopsided 74-36 state quarterfinal win Tuesday night at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

The 18-10 Lady Hawks got behind from the opening tipoff and never were able to match Mesa Vista’s aggressive play. The 26-3 Lady Trojans raced to a 6-0 lead and never trailed in advancing to one of today’s semi finals to face No. 4 Tularosa.

By halftime Mesa Vista held a sizable 43-21 cushion and pushed it to 62-29 before coasting to a 74-36 win.

LA junior guard Gianna Carrillo led the team with 16 points.

Trojans Tana Lopez and Shane Silva proved to be a deadly combination pumping in 23 and 22 points respectively.

Laguna Acoma struggled from the field, shooting 22 percent (12-of-61), while Mesa Vista shot a solid 52 percent (32-of-62).

First-year Laguna Acoma head coach Lacey Natseway said the game plan did not materialize.

“We prepared to press them. We have a fast team but something wasn’t clicking tonight. There were some spurts there when our press would work then we would fall out of it. Seedings don’t matter. There were many upsets here today and we were hoping to be one of them. It just didn’t happen.”

Mesa Vista head coach Jesse Boines said after the 38-point win: “If we’re not pushing the tempo, that’s not us.”

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