SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
After a close game that had all the makings of a neighborhood rivalry, Santa Fe High and St. Michael’s bid farewell for this season.
Tuesday night’s non district contest at the Lady Horsemen’s Perez-Shelley gymnasium went to the Demonettes, 59-57, and it ended their four-game losing streak as they prepared for District 5-5A and their opener Tuesday at Albuquerque High.
After already losing to city rivals Capital and Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe High broke through against St. Michael’s and upped its overall record to 6-10.
As for the Lady Horsemen, they are now all even at 8-8 as they begin District 2-3A at Raton Tuesday night. The Tigers are 4-7 after losing to Tucumcari, 74-24, in a non district contest Tuesday.
The game between the Siringo Road rivals went back-and-forth, and so did the score from start to finish. Early in the fourth quarter, the home side took a 43-39 lead by showing strength on the offensive boards. It was also outhustling the Demenottes until the stretch run.
That’s when Santa Fe High spent the latter part of the fourth quarter relying on a balanced attack where nine of its players scored. Senior Taylor Salazar paved the way with back-to-back 3-pointers that brought the visitors a 47-39 advantage with 5:36 remaining.
Alexis Espinosa, who scored a dozen points, hit a jumper followed by a pair of foul shots and with 3:22 to go, the Santa Fe High lead was now 54-49 as neither team could open up a commanding lead. And the Lady Horsemen were down 55-51 when Lauren Pecos converted two free throws and senior Cia Alvarez stole a pass at midcourt to tie things at 55-all with the clock at 1:26.
As for district play, St. Michael’s will have to contend with undefeated Robertson, along with Indian School, Albuquerque Sandia Prep, and Raton.
For the Demonettes, they should have their toughest tests against Albuquerque schools Sandia and Manzano. Then they have to play two against cross town rival Capital, Albuquerque High, and Albuquerque Rio Grande.
Then there’s Pecos in 7-2A. It knows the home and away games against new opponent Texico are key in a district that also includes Santa Rosa and Clayton. The Panthers are presently at 13-2, and right behind is Texico at 12-3.
In another clash of the Panthers, non district foe, Penasco, hosts Pecos Tuesday, and is 11-3, but one of the setbacks came versus Pecos in the Northern New Mexico Rio Grande final, 57-54.
Ron Drake’s Panthers were stood up by Santa Fe’s Tierra Encantada last week, which resulted in a 2-0 forfeit win. Drake said he would have rather played the game after two of the of the Lady Horsemen tournament games were cancelled because of the weather conditions.
Pecos then rolled over Hagerman, 70-31. Its first district test is Jan. 31 at Santa Rosa, and Tierra Encantada did show up to play Evangel Christian Academy in Albuquerque and won its first game in 10 starts.
In 4A, Pojoaque Valley was riding high and undefeated at 13-0, but lost to Carlsbad and Gallup at the Portales Round-Robin Invite, but defeated the host Rams. But on Tuesday night, the Elkettes lost a non district game at Indian School, and next plays its 2-4A district opener at Espanola Valley Tuesday.
Also in that district is Taos, Bloomfield, Moriarty, and Los Alamos, with Pojoaque still the best team in the district.
It’s going to be a tough grind for these Northern New Mexico schools. In 5A, Santa Fe High andCapital will be battling for state tournament berths. In 4A, at least Pojoaque has a shot at getting a high seed at state.
In 3A, Robertson will be a threat for state honors, and Indian School figures to again make it to the state tournament. St. Michael’s will be hard-pressed to get to the post-season.
In 2A, let’s see how Pecos does against Texico, a regular at the state tournament, and Penasco can’t be overlooked, but all three should wind up at state.
Who knows, some schools play better once they play their district games. One reason is that the non district part of the schedules has them up against various types of offense and defense, and that toughens them up.
Also, a possible bid to the state tournament can be had via district play.
In a doubleheader Tuesday at Santa Fe Prep, the Griffins split with Academy of Technology and The Classics, the boys (6-4) winning 83-54, and the Phoenix girls on top, 27-19, for its first win in 12 starts and dropped Prep to 3-3.
