SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Capital’s girls and boys opened District 5-5A with a sweep, but Santa Fe High, in 5-5A, and Santa Fe Indian School, in 4-3A, settled for a split, and the St. Michael’s boys were successful in their 2-3A start.
The Jaguar boys advanced to 12-3 overall by handing visiting Albuquerque Rio Grande a 78-52 thrashing as 5-5A bounced in with the other district games. The Jaguar girls hit the road for Albuquerque and came away with a 56-28 whooping over Rio Grande.
This put the Jags’ girls at 7-9 overall as they raced to a 26-13 lead in the second quarter, and with Rebecca Sorensen scoring eight of her dozen points in that span. They also displayed a balanced offense, and in the fourth quarter, eight of their players combined to toss in 22 points and drop winless Rio Grande to its 14th straight setback.
Also in 5-5A, the Santa Fe High girls continued to tumble by losing 75-58 at Albuquerque High and falling to 6-11 while the Bulldogs moved to 3-11. Thursday night, they play host to Albuquerque Sandia (9-7), a favorite to win district.
But the Demons, with 6-foot-7 sophomore standout Fedonta “JB” White still sidelined after an knee injury in last week’s one-point loss in Clovis, took care of business just the same. They took down visiting Albuquerque High, 75-52, at Toby Roybal Memorial gymnasium are now 14-3 and up among the leaders in 5A.
Christian Kavanaugh had a team-high of 24 points with some quality shooting from outside. He tossed in five 3-pointers and was 6-for-8 from the perimeter. He also paved the way to a 16-2 run in the third quarter that put things out of reach for the 3-11 Bulldogs.
Santa Fe High came away with nine of 12 tries from the 3 in the second half and wound up at 12-for-25. Friday, the Demons travel to Albuquerque Sandia.
St. Michael’s girls (8-8) open district play at Raton Friday night, but the boys got underway by coming up with a 81-38 trouncing of visiting Santa Fe Prep at Perez-Shelley gymnasium. The Griffins had to take the court with their top player, 6-3 senior Sam Sparks, sidelined with a wrist injury.
The Horsemen are now 10-7 overall after scoring 14 straight points in the opening quarter to gain a 20-5 lead. The Griffins (7-7) cut the deficit to 27-15 in the second quarter, but a convincing 26-4 run late in the quarter brought a 53-19 lead.
With that big lead, St. Michael’s was able to empty the bench, junior Thomas Wood and freshman Lucas Coriz had the team highs of 12 points each, and the Horsemen were well prepared following a 10-day break.
Saturday night, they are home to Raton, which lost 61-56 at West Las Vegas
Wednesday night. The Tigers dropped to 8-9 and the Dons are now all even at 8-8.
In 4-3A, the Santa Fe Indian School boys began play taking to the road and handing Robertson a 50-34 defeat, but the undefeated Cardinal girls remain as one of two unbeaten teams in the state after improving to 18-0 with a 52-37 triumph over the Braves at Pueblo Pavillon. Robertson led from start to finish while dropped Indian School to 16-3 overall.
Friday, the Braves boys are home to West Las Vegas, and their girls play at Wes Las Vegas Saturday.
In a 2-4A opener at Pojoaque Valley, the Elkettes came through with a tight 56 -53 win over Espanola Valley. They are the two top teams in that district, and tonight their boys match up at Pojoaque’s Ben Lujan Memorial court.
Also in 2-4A, Los Alamos held command in overtime in defeating visiting Moriarty, 62-54, to go to 8-11 overall and drop the Pintos to 9-10.
The Hilltoppers led most of the way, although Moriarty wiped out a 33-21 halftime deficit. Then, after Los Alamos responded by coming back to lead 40-31 after three quarters, the Pintos forced OT by outscoring the Toppers 18-9 in the final quarter of regulation, and then the home side prevailed 11-3 in the extra stanza.
