St. Michael’s Boys and Girls Come Away with Basketball Wins Tuesday Night

St. Michael’s boys and girls come away with basketball wins Tuesday night as the Horsemen rout Bosque School in Albuquerque and the Lady Horsemen do the same against visiting Albuquerque Academy

Pecos girls open the season with a huge opening quarter to win handily at East Mountain in Sandia Park

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

The St. Michael’s boy’s basketball team now has a complete roster as it has hit the road for seven games before returning home to play cross-town rival Capital.

There was Wednesday night’s 79-46 rout over Bosque School in Albuquerque, and with the football players now aboard, it brought depth and more talent to the lineup of first-year head coach David Rodriguez, “This team is conditioned and all they’ve been doing lately is running,” said Rodriguez after his second-straight victory. We were left a solid foundation from previous head coach (Ron) Geyer, and it’s because of that foundation we’ve been able to do so many of the things I want to run.”

It certainly helped that the Horsemen (2-0) began slow and then picked up the pace. It was 19-12 after one quarter and it increased to 33-20 at the half.

Their pesky defense then forced the home team into several turnovers in the third quarter and began a 24-12 run that continued into the final eight minutes.

Off the football team was 6-foot-1 senior Lincoln Barker and he turned in eight points. The leading scorer was junior guard Jevon Montoya, who accounted for 15 points. Sophomore Thomas Wood contributed 13 points and Victor Ortiz tossed in 11.

Also back in basketball uniform was 6-foot senior Antonio Gabaldon, and he scored seven points. Gabaldon’s back-up quarterback, junior Dominic Morgan, also scored seven points, plus senior Alex Schandelwein and junior Lucas Gonzales added six each.

For Bosque, it was the fourth-straight defeat. For St. Michael’s, the next stop is up at Los Alamos Friday night.

In girls play, St. Michael’s Lady Horsemen won for the first time under new head coach Martin Esquibel as they turned back visiting Albuquerque Academy, 41-24, to even their mark at 1-1.

The trailed 7-4 after one quarter, but then applied defensive pressure to hold the Chargers to only 10 points and establish a 28-17 lead after three quarters at Perez-Shelley gymnasium. Senior Lauren Chafins and sophomore Carisa Padilla paved the way with 10 points each., but Esquibel had praise for his defense.

“They (Academy) led early with tough defense,” said Esquibel, the former assistant coach under retired Martin Romero. “But we responded with our defense led by Sydney Halfort, Karisa Baca and Joelyn Fernandez, and they caused some turnovers by doing so.”

Pecos’ girls rolled over East Mountain, 66-24, in Sandia Park. They opened a 32-2 lead after one quarter in their season opener. Head coach Ron Drake said he had only 10 healthy players available so he rotated five in and five out for most of the game.

“Our press really worked in the first quarter,” Drake said, “and I was subbing girls in like every four minutes. It was a good game for us because everybody got some time and did some good things.”

Junior Cassie Muller led the Panthers with 25 points and 10 rebounds. She was one of three Pecos players to score and take down rebounds in double

figures. Faith Flores and Trinity Herrera were the other two with 10 boards and Destiny Romero added 10 points.