The Santa Fe High girls hit the road Tuesday and prevailed

The Santa Fe High girls improved their overall basketball record to 3-2 by turning back Rio Rancho High, 31-26, in a non-district game at the Rams’ court on Tuesday night.

The Demonettes took an early lead, but both teams went cold in the second quarter as Santa Fe High held a 15-14 at halftime. Demonettes’ 5-foot-6 junior point guard Marci Cordova did not score in the first half, but tossed in a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter to finish with those six points.

Santa Fe High had a low-scoring balanced attack led by eight points from 5-7 senior point guard Liasha Diaz, and 5-5 senior guard forward Kabreya Garcia added seven.

Rio Rancho, although it has a junior-senior mix that includes a pair of 6-1 girls on its 12-player roster, lost its third of five starts and joins the Demonettes in Thursday’s opening round of the annual Rio Rachco Invitational, with Santa Fe High playing Clovis (4-1) in a scheduled 1 p.m. start, and the Rams facing win-less Grants (0-3) in the slated 7 p.m. contest.

The Demonettes will be going against a Wildcats’ team that is 4-1, has won it last four, and sports a lineup of 5-footers, six each standing 5-5 and 5-7, and one each at at 5-6, 5-8 and 5-9, and a partridge and a pear tree.