Three of the top five girls Class 3A basketball programs highlight the upcoming Ben Lujan Tournament at Pojoaque Valley, Thursday through Saturday.
So the host Elkettes (5-3) will test their mettle right away by facing No. 3 Crownpoint (5-2), which has three players averaging double figures, led by one of the state’s top players in senior Courtney Craig, who is averaging 16 points a game with 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 7.3 steals.
The field also includes top ranked Santa Fe Indian School (6-1) and No. 5 Tohatchi, both of which are on the other side of the bracket, as is McCurdy (4-0), which is ranked seventh in 2A and meets the Lady Braves in the opening round.
On the boys side, the Elks (2-6) open with Cuba (1-3), setting up a potential second-round meeting with No. 2 Santa Fe Indian (6-1). On the other side of the bracket, Escalante (2-1) opens up against Capital (2-3).
The field also includes Gallup (4-2), which is ranked seventh in 4A.
“It’s one of the longest running tournaments in the state of New Mexico,” Elks coach Ryan Cordova said. “It’s an honor to be able to be a part of it.”
For hoops junkies, it’s a tasty smorgasbord treat, he said.
“The quality of the basketball is going to good,” Cordova said. “We have good coaches coming in. Good players. There’s a lot of respect on both the boys side and the girls side. Definitely some good programs.”
Tournaments like these, while hindering teams’ chances to practice, gives coaches a good opportunity to evaluate where the squad is in its development, what areas need to be addressed, and where the strengths lie, Cordova said.
“One of the things on the practice side is it’s not great because you don’t have that time to break things down,” he said. “When you have three-day tournaments, that’s two days of practice you’re not getting. For us, it’s a pre-district tournament that tells us what we’re good at and what we’re not good at. It’s three days of looking at our half-court sets or whether we can run a certain offense. It gives us an opportunity to focus on working on cleaning up our offense and preparing for certain defenses.”
It’s a quick jumpstart heading into the holiday break before district play starts.
“Every team in the state has tools in the tool box and we use this time to sharpen our tools,” Cordova said. “Then we can come in after January and get ready for district play because that’s where it all counts.”
Romero said getting a chance to see this many top teams at one time is something he appreciates.
“I think we have a good group of teams and I think we match up well with them,” he said. “They’re going to be tough. I think we have the ability to play with any of these teams, if we play to our ability.”
The Elkettes already showed just that, losing to SF Indian School in the closing moments when they had a chance to win.
“We had every opportunity to win that game but our youth showed and we made some mistakes at the end,” Romero said. “Santa Fe Indian School is a really good team and we saw Tohatchi up in Gallup when we were up there and they’re very good. And you can never count out McCurdy.”
And this is another chance for the Elkettes to grow, he said.
“We’re definitely excited,” Romero said. “We’re hoping to take care of business so we can get another chance at Santa Fe Indian or Tohatchi. But regardless of what happens, we get another opportunity to play Santa Fe Indian School in January at their place. We’re definitely heading in the right direction. We’re pretty competitive. We play very fast. We can hang in there with the good teams.