SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
St. Michael’s girls have a rematch Friday with Bernalillo as both advanced Thursday to the semifinals of the annual Ben Lujan basketball tournament played at Pojoaque Valley.
The Lady Horsemen, who handily turned back Espanola McCurdy, 47-30, will have a tough task over a Spartan team that edged previously undefeated Penasco, 50-49, and earlier this month visited and rolled over St. Michael’s, 45-20. The two are scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. start.
Under head coach Martin Esquibel, the Lady Horsemen are now all even at 4-4. They previously lost at Penasco, at Los Alamos, and at home to Albuquerque Academy and Bernaillo. The wins have come over Questa, at Taos, over Taos, at home to Capital, and now the triumph over the defending district champion Bobcats.
Meanwhile, the Spartans, who lost their opener to Pojoaque on the road, and then avenged it in a later game, are 8-1, while Penasco lost for the first time in seven starts.
In another girl’s game in the 8-school field, Santa Rosa disposed of Dulce, 39-31, to get to 4-4 and drop Dulce to 1-6. Santa Rosa will next face host Pojoaque, which downed Crownpoint, 54-23, with the contest scheduled for 5 p.m. The Elkettes won their seventh of nine starts and Crownpoint is now 4-5.
In the boy’s opener, Mesa Vista nipped Albuquerque Menaul, 55-54, to advance to 3-1 and knock Menaul down to 3-5. Mesa VIsta led after one quarter, 15-12, fell behind 24-20 at the half, got back in front, 38-36, after three, while Menaul outscored Mesa Vista,18-17, in the final eight minutes, only to fall short by a point of tying things.
Mesa VIsta now meet meets up with the Espanola McCurdy-Santa Fe Indian School winner in a slated 4 p.m. start.
Monte del Sol is now 3-3 with a 59-40 victory over Penasco, as the Panthers lost for the seventh time in eight games. The Dragons await the winner of the closing game matching the host Elks with Crownpoint.
In a non district contest at the Academy of Technology and The Classics, the Phoenix girls faced Native American Community Academy , and at Santa Fe Indian School, the Brave girls played Wingate
In a non district game of the annual Eddie Pena Classic, Capital’s boys had no problem wiping out Belen, 61-27, in the first round. The Jaguars are now 8-1. At Academy of Technology and The Classics, the Phoenix boys took on Native American Community Academy
NOTES: Its been a dismal start for the Robertson girls basketball team that compiled a 29-2 overall record, the most wins of any of the other girls state champions, and hoisted the 3A championship trophy. Now the Cardinals come off a 24-20 loss at Taos after being blown out, 53-20, to Rio Rancho Cleveland, 43-32 to Los Alamos, 42-26 to Valencia, and 57-32 to Portales, with the lone win coming, 67-37, over Santa Rosa.
So, after losing key players to graduation and hampered by injuries, Robertson is now 1-5, with a visit from Shiprock on Saturday afternoon. Thanks to the easy win over Santa
Rosa, the Cardinals have scored 197 points and have allowed 256. Their best player has been 5-foot-5 sophomore forward Jayden Jenkins, the leader scorer who also plays on the state-championship volleyball team.
The Santa Fe Indian School boys went about getting their record all even at 4-4by winning, 59-41, over McCurdy, and will move on to a semis contest versus Mesa Vista. The Bobcats are now 2-4.
