The Pojoaque Elkettes extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games by running the table at the Ben Lujan tournament.
Pojoaque pummelled Peñasco 66-36 in the opening round, cruised past Cimarron 72-59 in the semifinals and put away a stubborn West Las Vegas 63-35 in the championship game Dec. 20 in Pojoaque.
West Las Vegas gave Pojoaque a battle in the first half of the championship game. The Dons led 20-17, but Pojoaque scored the final seven points of the first half and led 27-21 at halftime. The Elkettes pulled away by dominating the second half and outscoring the Dons 36-14 for the victory.
“One thing our girls did a good job of is keeping their composure,” Pojoaque coach Lanse Carter said. “It was a rough game and West came out strong.”
Jackie Bartelson led Pojoaque with 15 points, while Dionna Montoya had 13, Janelle Roybal 12 and Ellen Cruz 11 for the Elkettes.
“One of the strengths of our team has got to be our balanced scoring,” assistant coach Joe Estrada said. “We can score from a lot of places.”
Montoya led the Elkettes in scoring against Peñasco with 15 points, while Marissa Romero topped the leaderboard against Cimarron by scoring 22 points.
The Elkettes are the defending Class AAA state champions and so far this season have not been threatened by their opponents. Cimarron came the closest to the Elkettes by closing to within 11 points before falling 72-59 in the semifinals.
“Every game has been a tough game in that everyone brings their ‘A’ game against us,” Carter said. “One of the strengths of this team is perseverance. How long does it take us to find out where our strengths are against each team.”
Looking ahead, the Elkettes have yet to face Santa Fe Indian School, a District 2AAA rival that is coached by former Pojoaque coach Cindy Roybal. Local rival Española Valley travels to Pojoaque Jan. 13. The Lady Sundevils are 7-2 and much improved.
“Ron Drake has done a huge job at Española,” Carter said.
Carter said the Elkettes have yet to reach their peak.
“We’ve got a whole long way to go,” Carter said.