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Home / News / Except for Capital and Santa Fe High’s boys, basketball’s District 5-5A is not one to brag about, the Albuquerque schools are weak, and in girl’s play, only Sandia has a winning record.

Except for Capital and Santa Fe High’s boys, basketball’s District 5-5A is not one to brag about, the Albuquerque schools are weak, and in girl’s play, only Sandia has a winning record.

By Arnie Leshin 
Arnie Leshin

As long as Santa Fe High’s enrollment is listed among the state’s bigger schools, it plays its schedule, not overly overjoyed with it, but shouldn’t have any complaints with playing basketball in District 5-5A.

Especially in boy’s basketball, where the challenge comes only from cross-town rival Capital in a district that finds the four Albuquerque schools all under .500, all in the lower half of the state rankings.
Still, nothing comes easy, as in the Demons taking to the road Wednesday night and having to sweat out a 62-59 win over Albuquerque High. No such problem for Capital, which headed down to hapless Rio Grande in Albuquerque and returned with a 64-26 rout.
 
Santa Fe High is sitting pretty in the district, so is Capital. The Jaguars in fact are 15-2 and ranked third in the state after Rio Rancho Cleveland fell from the unbeaten ranks in losing to Albuquerque Volcano Vista, which moved 17-1 Las Cruces to the top of the charts, with the Storm now at 17-1and Volcano Vista fourth at 15-2.
 
Then comes the Demons at 13-3 and ranked sixth. And down the list are the Albuquerque schools in District 5 — Manzano (5-10) as 19th,  Albuquerque High (5-10) as 21st, Sandia (4-11) as 22nd, and Rio Grande (3-12) at No. 25 and in the bottom. 
 
Friday night, Santa Fe High and Capital are home, the Demons facing Sandia and the Jags taking on Albuquerque High. 
 
Not a Santa Fe High name appears on the state’s overall scoring list, but Capital senior Antonio “TJ” Sanchez is up among the leaders with a 25.2 scoring average. Junior Dominic Luna is not far behind at 19.6. Pecos has senior Xavier Padilla scoring at a 18.3 clip and senior Ismael Villegas at 16.9. 
 
Also noteworthy is Monte del Sol freshman Kevin Enriques and his 15.7 scoring norm. 
 
Meanwhile, in District 5, it could well be a district final matching Santa Fe High with Capital, and home court here will be important. 
 
Turning to the girl’s field in 5-5A, only Sandia has a winning record, Santa Fe High is at .500, and Capital joins the Albuquerque schools playing below .500 ball. Tonight the Demonettes (8-8) head for 11-4 Sandia, which is ranked 11th overall, with Santa Fe High 15th.
 
The Jaguars (6-11) travel to Albuquerque High (5-9). They are ranked 20th, the Bulldogs 19th. The remaining schools in this district, Manzano (3-11) is ranked 26, and hapless Rio Grande (1-19) ranked 20th.
 
Because of the weakness of this district, the Demonettes, even Capital, has a good chance to gain the state tournament, with this depending on their regular-season finish and district tournament. 
 
The girl’s overall scoring also does not list a single Santa Fe High player, but the Jags do have juniors Rebecca Sorensen scoring at a 11.9 clip and Ethena Silva at 10.8.
 
On top of the heap is Sandia junior Viane Cumber, with a 21.4 scoring average, presently at 100 points, making good on 30-of-31 3s, 
converting 60 free throws, and at 45 percent from the field. 
 
Coincidently, on the list there are three different Coles, all from different schools, and most likely not related. One is Manzano senior Cameron scoring 9.4 a game, Albuquerque junior Briana at 8.4, and Capital senior Angelique at 2.9. 

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