Capital girls fall to Roswell

Turnovers turn off Capital girls’ run to the annual Al Armendariz tournament championship as they fell to Roswell Goddard Saturday night

Jaguars trail early as miscues help the Rockets take charge and hold off any late challenges                 

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today    

The Capital High girls made their way into Saturday night’s championship of the annual Al Armendariz basketball tournament, but their good future came to a halt in the 44-32 loss to Roswell Goddard.

As occurred in the dominating defeat to Pojoaque Valley in the season opener, turnovers hurt for first-year head coach Darren Casados’ team as it dropped to 4-2, matching the Rockets’ record.

It was a grand total of 29 turnovers made against the defending state 5A champions, and in the first half they hurt the most. There, it was 17 miscues that helped Goddard race off to a 18-2 lead that became 29-9 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Jags were down 22, 33-12 in the early going.

Capital did make a run behind junior Kyannah Cole and went on a 9-0 run to cut the gap to 33-21 heading into the final quarter. But the Rockets, with five players returning from last year’s team, held firm thanks to their experience.

The Jaguars had more depth, but it mattered little as Goddard made enough use of its short bench.

It look like Capital was making another run in the fourth quarter, but four turnovers put an end to that and it trailed 39-21 with 6:21 left.

In the third place game, Aztec (3-1) turned back Albuquerque High, 54-41, to put the Bulldogs at 1-4.

Fifth place went to Espanola Valley (3-2) in a 57-31 rout over 2-2 Pecos.

Santa Fe High finished seventh by dominating Mesa Vista, 60-21, with junior Taylor Salazar paving the way with 18 points that included four 3s. Seniors Kaya Suina added 13 and Adonica Baca-Martinez tossed in 11. It was the first win of the season for new head coach Cindy Roybal in four