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St. Michael’s girls take basketball win Thursday over Hatch Valley in Albuquerque, but the boys bow to visiting Albuquerque Academy

Santa Fe High and Capital High girls meet up tonight in non district game at the Jaguars’ court

By Arnie Leshin
Arnie Leshin

Both Santa Fe High and cross town rival Capital hope to get over .500 when they meet for the first time tonight in a non district contest at the Jaguars’ court.

Both have new head coaches and both own 7-7 records as district play soon comes into play, the Demonettes in 2-6A and the Jaguars in 2-5A, so this one is for bragging rights.

The St. Michael’s girls also stand at 7-7 after disposing of Hatch Valley, 49-43, Thursday in the Sandia Prep Holiday Classic in Albuquerque. Showing the way was sophomore Carissa Padilla, with the team’s leading scorer tossing in 22 points that included a quartet of 3s, and also pulling down eight rebounds.

In dropping Hatch to 6-6, it took a defensive-minded second quarter to keep the Lady Horsemen in charge. Simply put, they outscored Hatch, 18-2, in those eight minutes. Hatch led 12-9 after one quarter and St. Michael’s 27-14 at halftime.

The Lady Horsemen were outscored 29-22 over the last two quarters, but maintained their lead. Freshman Stella Valencia added seven boards. St. Michael’s meets up with tournament host Sandia Prep today, while Monte del Sol goes against Hatch Valley.

The St. Michael’s boys weren’t as fortunate as they played their second of back-to-back home games. Wednesday, they lost to undefeated Espanola Valley and last night it was a 54-47 setback against Albuquerque Academy.

The result advanced the Chargers to 3-6 and dropped the Horsemen to 5-9 and fifth-straight defeat. There were three early ties and four lead changes before the visitors went on a run for a 31-18 advantage that they never lost.

St. Michael’s trailed 10-9 after one quarter and it was 18-all at halftime. But the quarter belonged to the Chargers 20-14, and the Horsemen’s 15-14 edge over the final eighth minutes wasn’t good enough.

Now St. Michael’s gets a brief rest, not playing again until Silver visits on Jan. 11 for a non district contest.

In the annual Northern Rio Grande Invitational semifinals played at Pojoaque Valley, the Pecos boys won with ease over outmatched Questa, 86-11, to up its record to 10-2 and drop Questa to 1-9.

The Panthers now take on Escalante in the semifinals after a 48-38 Escalante win over Mesa Vista. The other semis matches Espanola McCurdy up with Mora for the third time this season, and Mora has won the first two, and comes off a 66-46 triumph over Dulce, while McCurdy downed Penasco, 82-56.

As for the girls in the Northern Rio Grande field, it wasn’t a good time for Pecos, which hadn’t played in 18 days and could convert only 15 of 31 tries from the foul line in the 50-42 loss to Mora.

And to make matters worse, the Panthers will be without leading player, junior Cassie Muller, after she injured her right knee in the final two minutes and needed assistance to get to the sidelines.

Pecos fell to 6-3 and now faces Questa in the consolation round today. The other consolation contest pairs Escalante with Mesa Vista. Escalante bowed to Dulce, 55-34, Questa lost to Penasco, 59-34, and Mesa Vista was defeated 60-33 by McCurdy.

The semis pairs Mora with Penasco and Dulce versus McCurdy. The finals are Saturday.

In other boy’s games, Estancia won handily over Monte del Sol, 93-59, Pojoaque topped East Mountain, 45-30, Taos triumphed over Ruidoso, 78-44, and Desert Academy lost 73-6 to Albuquerque Menaul.

In other girl’s games, Las Vegas Robertson disposed of Albuquerque Academy, 49-20, undefeated Moriarty took a 45-41 victory over Albuquerque’s St. Pius X, and West Las Vegas won 59-54 over Clayton.

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