5A girls: Hobbs claims title and respect with win over Rio Rancho

Joe Carpenter had a very specific point to make. He was frustrated, he said, with the general blanket of anonymity the girls he coaches at Hobbs High School continually must overcome.

The program’s results, he said, begged that more attention be paid.

“I just want my kids to get noticed and recognized occasionally,” he said.

The point perhaps was valid to a degree on an individual basis. But collectively, Hobbs’ mix of athletes continues to do it as good as anyone.

The top-seeded Eagles (29-2) won the Class 5A girls basketball state championship on Saturday afternoon at the Pit, overcoming No. 3 Rio Rancho 66-53 with a strong second half, and captured the program’s third title this decade.

“I think people doubted us,” Carpenter said. “I know that’s cliche, but when you lose seven seniors as good as the ones we had, it says a lot.”

It was this, Carpenter said — and not for the first time — that had him convinced that few people outside the bubble of his locker room believed his Eagles had the legs for a deep run in March.

But Hobbs was the best team in 5A for virtually the entire season — in hindsight, a December home loss to Farmington was more of a glitch than cause for concern — and the Eagles put an exclamation point on this tremendous campaign with wins over La Cueva, Albuquerque High and Rio Rancho (27-5) over the last five days

“I think we have a lot of grit and work hard, and we just keep putting in the work and we fight adversity as a team,” said senior guard Matysen Zepeda, one of just two key senior contributors on this Hobbs roster. She had 12 points and five rebounds Saturday. “And we have each other’s backs every day.”

The other senior who logged major minutes and moments was Aliana Armitage, Hobbs’ smallest starter (5-2) but who led the team in rebounds with seven.

“We knew that we were young, and we knew that me and Maty would have to lead the younger ones,” Armitage said.

There was plenty of back-and-forth throughout the first half Saturday.

The Eagles led by as many as eight (19-11) following a 3-pointer from Kacelynn Muniez and a drive and finish by eighth-grader Xoey Ross, but the Martinez sisters — Larissa, Madi and Lilly — led the charge back for the Rams.

Lilly scored on a putback with 1:38 to go before halftime for a 23-21 lead, and Madi added a mid-range jumper off the glass with under a second left as the Rams led 25-23 at halftime.

Hobbs opened the third quarter on a 13-2 run. Sophomore Kareli Rivera, who was extremely efficient off the bench with 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting (her second highest-scoring game this season), started the run with a three-point play.

Zepeda scored twice, Rivera twice more, including yet another three-point play, and the Eagles were in front 36-27 midway through the quarter.

“We felt (Rivera) had a mismatch and could create for other people,” Carpenter said. Rivera also led Hobbs with five assists.

The Eagles led 44-39 at the third-quarter break, with Muniez and Ross both nailing late 3s. Zepeda hit one from the arc to start the fourth quarter for a 47-39 lead.

Twice in the fourth quarter, Rio Rancho climbed within four points, at 47-43 early and then 57-53 with 2:19 to go following a Larissa Martinez 3-pointer.

Hobbs answered the first challenge with six straight points and a 53-43 lead. Rivera scored twice within 16 seconds in the second challenge, for a 61-53 lead that locked things up.

“They had a chip on their shoulder and they had a lot of fun,” Carpenter said. “Put those two things together, (and you get) what this team was. They love each other, they have fun with each other, and they want to win.”

Muniez led the Eagles with 17 points, and was 4-for-8 from the arc. Ross scored 13 points, Zepeda 12.

“We let everyone talk,” Zepeda said. “And we let our hard work do the talking for us.”

Madi Martinez had a team-best 21 points for the Rams. But Rio Rancho was forced into 23 turnovers by a Hobbs lineup that had more depth.

“Hobbs is relentless,” Rio Rancho coach Lori Mabrey said. “(But) Hobbs knew they were in a game with us.”

This was the Rams’ first-ever appearance in the championship game.

“We return a really good core of kids,” Mabrey said. “So I don’t think you’ve seen the last of us.”

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.