Breaking News
Home / Sports News / Capital and St. Michael’s girl’s basketball season ends in state tournament opening round Friday night

Capital and St. Michael’s girl’s basketball season ends in state tournament opening round Friday night

Game try for Capital and St. Michael’s as their girl’s basketball season ends in state tournament opening round Friday night, while Pecos, Pojoaque, Espanola, Santa Fe Indian School win Confirmed: Cindy Roybal resigned after one season as head coach of the Santa Fe High girls

By Arnie Leshin
Arnie Leshin

On a day that it was confirmed of Cindy Roybal’s resignation after one season as head coach of the Santa Fe High girl’s basketball program, Pojoaque Valley, Santa Fe Indian School and Espanola Valley were successful on Friday’s night opening round of the state tournament.

The Elkettes, the Braves, the Sundevils, are the last three teams that Roybal coached. All had successful seasons that included back-to-back state 3A championships while at Santa Fe Indian, and three seasons in the state tournament with Espanola.

But she put in more time at these schools before resigning. About three times more. After leaving Espanola, she applied for the Demonettes’ same role, but wasn’t prepared for 6A, her first time in that class. So after going 9-7, she was locked in to 6A and never won again, losing the last 11 times.

Who knows what transpired? Did she lose her way in 6A? Was it a team problem? And in that stretch, her games were never called in.

The final game of the regular-season was at Clovis, but Roybal was not on the bus. It was reported that she handed in her resignation the next day.
Which left her three former schools in 4A and 5A playing in the state tourney, and who knows if she’s entertained any other openings.

She also did not attend Santa Fe High’s Senior Night.

But the games went on.

At Pojoaque, the 7th seeded Elkettes (22-5) did not have it easy before carrying off a 45-31 4A win over 10th seeded Cobre. They finished second behind 2nd seeded Robertson in District 4, and the Cardinals (25-3) rolled over visiting district opponent Taos for the third time, 58-15. Also in 4A, 6th seeded Santa Fe Indian School (25-4), too, had a tough time before handing visiting 11th seeded Socorro a 61-56 loss.

But a surprise occurred when 9th seeded West Las Vegas (16-10) turned in a 59-49, win on the road over defending state 4A champion Albuquerque Hope Christian. It wasn’t the best of seasons for the Huskies (13-16), but it still was an upset when beating them on their home court to end their season earlier than usual.

St. Michael’s (10-18), the 13th seed in 4A, played a decent first half on the road before 4th seeded Shiprock (19-9) took charge 63-35.
In 5A, Espanola (16-11) didn’t have it easy before deposing of visiting 10th seeded Belen, 49-42. With the Eagles closing the gap in the final minutes, the Sundevils hung on by slowing down the game.

Capital High (14-15) received its first invite to state in eight years, and as the 14th seed lost at 3rd seeded Gallup, 79-49, in 5A.

In 2A, Elmer Chavez’ 2nd seeded Mescalero Apache (21-1) opened with a 59-42 triumph over visiting 15th seed Escalante. Chavez previously coached Santa Fe High to the 2014 state 4A title.

All the top two seeds in each class advanced. In 3A, top-seed Texico (23-4) trounced 16th seed Santa Rosa, 66-28, and 2nd seeded, defending state champion Tobachi (22-6) turned back 15th seeded Loving, 69-51.

In 4A, top-seed Portales (25-2) rolled over 16th seed Albuquerque Bosque School, 71-31, while 2nd seed Robertson also won. In 5A, top-seed Las Lunas (26-2) overwhelmed 16th seed Deming, 71-27, and 2nd seeded Bloomfield (24-5) topped 15th seed Lovington, 56-27.

In 6A, top-seed Albuquerque Cibola (25-4) eliminated 16th seed Rio Rancho Cleveland, 59-48, and 2nd seeded Hobbs (27-2) triumphed over 15th seed Atrisco Heritage, 86-51. The 4th seeded Carlsbad (25-5) won on a buzzer shot to get past 3rd seeded Volcano Vista, 37-36.

Check Also

All in the world of sports

By Arnie Leshin  The world champion United States women’s soccer team wins on the field …