While basketball has hit mid-season with just a few more games before diving into district games, the spirit competitions began and it turned out to be quite an opening performance for the Española Valley cheerleading team.
The Sundevils dazzled at the Pride of Questa competition Dec. 20, winning the Class 1A-4A division by scoring 178.8 points out of a possible 200.
“The team did such a wonderful job,” coach Tatiana Quintana said. “That was such an impressive score for our first competition. I couldn’t have asked for more, truly. This is just the beginning of a wonderful season.”
Girls Basketball
Dec. 19
Pojoaque Valley 50, Peñasco 35
Gerrianna Romero scored 23 points and Monique Arrietta added 10 for the host Elkettes (7-3) in the semifinals of the Ben Lujan Tournament. Pojoaque led just 12-11 after the first quarter before outscoring the Lady Panthers 21-8 in the pivotal second quarter.
Mesa Vista 63, DeBeque (Colo.) 20
Charlene Archuleta had 18 points and Aubrey Maestas added 11 for the Lady Trojans (7-1) in the semifinals of the Lady Mustang Invitational in Colorado. Jordyn Serrano grabbed eight rebounds and had four blocks, while Aayliyah Boies had five assists.
Reserve 61, Coronado 41
The visiting Lady Leopards (5-4) fell behind 12-3 in the first quarter and then got outscored 24-2 in the second against the Lady Mountaineers. But Coronado did rally to outscore Reserve 34-25 in the second half.
Española Valley 46, Pecos 34
McCurdy 44, Moriarty 42
Dec. 20
Pojoaque Valley 45, Santa Fe Indian School 36
The host Elkettes (8-3) came away with a big victory over Class 3A’s No. 1 ranked team in the Lady Braves to win the Lujan Tournament. Monique Arrietta scored 18 points and the Elkettes defense dominated by holding star Indian School scorers Aaliyah Valencia and Kaydence Riley to a combined 14 points.
“The program is pretty excited to have won the tournament,” Elkettes coach Bobby Romero said. “It had been six years since the girls last won it. We made it to the championship last year but lost to Gallup. We are just continuing to build our depth and taking it one game at a time. Hopefully we can continue to improve and achieve our goal of competing for our district and state tournament.”
Arrietta, Savannah Pacheco and Gerrianna Romero all made the All-tournament team.
Sanford (Colo.) 66, Mesa Vista 39
Aubrey Maestas poured in 19 points for the Lady Trojans (7-2) in the finals of the Mustang Invitational against the host school, but none of her teammates could get untracked offensively, although Aayliyah Boies did have seven steals.
In the finale of the Lujan Tournament, the Lady Bobcats (5-2) fell 34-16 at halftime and couldn’t rally against the Lady Eagles, despite putting up 16 fourth-quarter points.
Los Alamos 42, Española Valley 32
Crownpoint 70, McCurdy 40
Dec. 22
Mesa Vista 53, Cuba 37
The visiting Lady Trojans (8-2) got 18 points and seven steals from Aayliyah Boies and Valery Martinez grabbed seven rebounds against the Lady Rams.
McCurdy 51, Academy for Technology and the Classics 28
The host Lady Bobcats (6-2) stormed out to a 17-5 first-quarter lead and the game against the Lady Phoenixes was not close thereafter
Boys Basketball
Dec. 19
Alamogordo 77, Española Valley 42
Despite getting 15 points from Isaiah Chavez and 10 from Isaiah Dominguez, the Sundevils (1-7) struggled defensively in interim coach Jordan Romero’s first game against the host Tigers in the Alamogordo Shootout. Española fell behind 25-11 after the first quarter and tried to play catch-up the rest of the way.
Academy for Technology and the Classics 39, McCurdy 37
The host Bobcats (2-5) led 28-27 going into the fourth quarter, but the see-saw game got away from them at the end against the Phoenixes.
Escalante 60, Moriarty 45
Damian Baeza scored 15 points, including three consecutive 3-pointers in the first quarter to help the Lobos (3-2) build a 17-5 lead in the Lujan Tournament against the Pintos. Richard Glover added 11 rebounds.
Santa Fe Indian School 57, Pojoaque Valley 45
Mesa Vista 80, DeBeque (Colo.) 52
Coronado 60, Reserve 41
Dec. 20
Mayfield 76, Española Valley 60
Although the Sundevils (1-8) turned in a better performance in the finale of the Shootout, going into halftime tied with the Trojans, Española wore down in the third quarter.
“It was one of those games where our conditioning isn’t where it needs to be,” coach Jordan Romero said. “We simply ran out of gas. They’re a tough team. And they’ve have had a little more time together collectively, as a whole. We got better from the Alamo game to the Mayfield game, so it was a positive from that aspect. It was a game we learned from and we got better because of the quality of the opponent.”
Pojoaque Valley 58, Capital 40
In the finale of the Lujan Tournament, the host Elks (4-7) got revenge for a loss to the Jaguars a week earlier, building a 31-28 halftime lead, then pulling away with a 13-6 advantage in the third quarter.
Escalante 46, Cuba 39
RJ Atencio scored 21 points and Richard Glover snared nine rebounds as the Lobos (4-2) took a 33-32 lead into the fourth quarter against the host Rams. Escalante was able to polish off the game from the foul line in the finale of the Lujan Tournament. Damien Baeza earned a spot on the All-Tournament team.
“We still have a lot of pieces to put together and we’re continuing to figure each other out,” assistant coach Dakotah Gonzales said. “We’re beginning to mesh as a team, but there’s still a long way to go. The positive take-away is that we’re getting better with each game and once everything comes together, we’ll be an exciting team to watch.”
Sanford 45, Mesa Vista 43
Dec. 22
McCurdy 46, Santa Fe Prep 26
Mesa Vista 77, Cuba 47
Dec. 23
Española Valley 66, Bernalillo 36
Aaron Quintana had 16 and Irvin Primero added 14, with Isaiah Chavez chipping in 12 to help the visiting Sundevils (2-8) end an eight-game losing streak and give new coach Jordan Romero his first-ever win.
“We played well defensively and shot the ball well offensively,” Romero said.
Although it was his first win, it was more important for the team to find some success, he said, using a 44-12 advantage over the third and fourth quarters to build a big lead.
“We lost eight in a row, so it’s good to get back in the winning column,” Romero said. “We can build off of that and put a little streak together. It built a lot of positivity. The morale and energy was up in the locker room. We needed that collectively as a group.”