Annual Lady Horsemen holiday tournament at St. Michael’s switches to a six-school round-robin and begins its three-day event on December 27

Joining St. Michael’s in the field are Pojoaque Valley, Espanola Valley, Cobre, and Albuquerque schools Cottonwood Classical Prep and Sandia Prep

By Arnie Leshin

Only Cobre will have a tune-up game for the Lady Horsemen holiday basketball event that will be a round-robin this time around, with play beginning on Dec. 27 and running for three days at Perez-Shelley gymnasium.

Cobre (7-3) will be playing at Lordsburg Thursday, and will next meet up with Pojoaque Valley (9-1) in the Lady Horsemen at 2:30 p.m. That same day, it will be Espanola Valley (4-5) versus Sandia Prep (1-5) at 1, and host St. Michael’s (4-6) against Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical Prep (1-4) at 4.

The next day, it will be Albuquerque Sandia Prep versus Cottonwood at 1 p.m., Pojoaque versus Espanola at 2:30, and St. Michael’s versus Cobre at 4. On day three, Sandia Prep leads off against Cobre at 1, Pojoaque goes against Cottonwood at 2:30, and St. Michael’s versus Espanola a 4.

After winning their tournament for the first time, defeating Robertson in the 2014 final, The Lady Horsemen have lost the last two times in the final to Espanola, which has won it three times under three different head coaches. Now it has another new coach in Johnny Abeyta. And Pojoaque, off its impressive record, is probably the favorite.

The Schedule:

12/27: Sandia Prep vs. Espanola at 1
12/27: Cobre vs. Pojoaque at 2:30
12/27: St. Michael’s vs. Cottonwood at 4

12/28: Sandia Prep vs. Cottonwood at 1
12/28: Pojoaque vs. Espanola at 2:30
12/28: St. Michael’s vs. Cobre at 4

12/29: Sandia Prep vs. Cobre at 1
12/29: Pojoaque vs. Cottonwood at 2:30
12/29: St. Michael’s vs. Espanola at 4