5A girls: Underdog Volcano Vista, Hobbs, Rio Rancho, AHS reach semis

A metro championship game rematch, and meeting No. 4 between Rio Rancho and Volcano Vista.

Those are Thursday’s Class 5A girls state basketball semifinals, but only because in the last game of what was primarily a disappointing day of quarterfinal blowouts by the higher seeds at the Pit on Tuesday, the 10th-seeded Hawks upset No. 2 Farmington to advance.

Volcano and Rio Rancho play at 1:15 p.m. Thursday. The first semifinal Thursday, at 9:45 a.m., matches the two teams who met in the metro final two months ago, Hobbs and Albuquerque High.

The Rams and Bulldogs authored outstanding defensive performances in their quarterfinal victories, while Hobbs survived a serious threat from No. 9 La Cueva.

No. 10 VOLCANO VISTA 57, No. 2 FARMINGTON 52: The Hawks season, for most of the way, has lacked much positive traction. A late-season upset of Rio Rancho was an attention-grabber, and now Volcano Vista (18-13) carries tangible underdog momentum into this next matchup with the Rams.

“The Pit is magical,” said Volcano coach Lisa Villareal, who has won a handful of state titles with the school. “We always know that at Volcano.”

Jalysa Hines had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead the Hawks, and she was one of four players in double figures in points.

It was her 3-pointer midway through the third quarter that gave Volcano Vista the lead for good at 35-32. Mia Zuniga’s three-point play moments later upped the edge for the Hawks to 40-32.

Farmington (24-5) did get as close as two points, at 51-49, with 2:22 go to on Caris Dale’s long-range jumper – her only points of the game – but Zoey Loretto scored from in close for Volcano for a 53-49 lead.

Hines hit four free throws in the final 31 seconds to seal the win for the upstart Hawks.

“We’re still in the race,” Villareal said with a knowing smile, thinking back to the start of the season and the bumps along the way, when Volcano might, Villareal said, easily have given up on their March dreams.

“We’ve changed a lot since the beginning of the season,” added Hines. “I think we just came together better as a team, and grown together.”

LaLicia Garcia added 12 points, Zuniga 11 and Loretto 10 for Volcano.

Kjani Anitielu had a team-best 21 points for the Scorpions; the Hawks’ defense on Dale, Villareal noted, was key, since she had been a factor in two District 1-5A victories for Farmington over Volcano Vista.

“They did some different things we hadn’t seen,” Farmington coach Tom Adair said.

No. 1 HOBBS 63, No. 9 LA CUEVA 55: The Bears (18-11) had more than a fighting chance to ship the top seed out of the tournament, and La Cueva was down just three with 2½ minutes to go. But then Matysen Zepeda buried a huge 3-pointer from the far side, and eighth-grader Xoey Ross made consecutive shots for a 10-point lead, and Hobbs (27-2) held off the Bears in an entertaining matchup.

“We knew we could play with them,” said La Cueva senior guard Jordyn Dyer, who scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds in her final game with the Bears, “9 seed or not.”

Hobbs led virtually the entire second half, but the Bears were tight in their rear-view mirror throughout. La Cueva ultimately was undone by 22 turnovers, plus the clutch performance of Ross.

“La Cueva really gave us everything they had,” Hobbs coach Joe Carpenter said. “I thought they would hit a wall, but they didn’t.”

Ross had 19 points and six rebounds to lead the Eagles.

Kacelynn Muniez added 17 points and hit on half of her 10 tries from the arc. For La Cueva, Siena Tesinsky was 7-for-11 from the field and finished with 16 points. Hobbs recorded 16 steals to just one for the Bears.

No. 4 ALBUQUERQUE HIGH 38, No. 5 SANDIA 22: The Bulldogs (26-3) , believed to be appearing inside the Pit for the first time in 33 years, went on a 19-2 wraparound run in the second half — fueled by the sensational 3-point shooting of senior guard Lailah Bouldin — and advanced to the semifinals.

“It’s fun being a Bulldog today,” AHS coach Teri Morrison said.

Bouldin led the Bulldogs with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Sandia (25-4), shot just 20% (9-for-45) on the day, including a dismal 1-for-21 from the arc as the Albuquerque High man-defense dictated tempo.

“Frankly,” Sandia coach Lee Kettig said after his Matadors’ bid for a threepeat officially ended, “we didn’t shoot that well in Round 1 (against Cleveland), either. … Credit to Albuquerque High, they played good man-defense.”

Kaiyah Benally led Sandia with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 3 RIO RANCHO 42, No. 6 LOS LUNAS 25: The Rams (26-4) never trailed and they were never once threatened as they easily handled the Tigers (24-6) in the first 5A quarterfinal of the day.

“I am just so proud of these girls, they played their butts off,” Rio Rancho coach Lori Mabrey said.

The Rams’ defense was the story, as they held Los Lunas to 4-for-30 shooting through the first three quarters (13.3%) and just 8-for-28 (21.1%) for the game.

Rio Rancho sicced its defensive specialist, junior guard Daysia Jack, on Los Lunas’ top scorer, Kayla Finley, and Jack did her thing, holding Finley — who had 35 points in a win over Mayfield in the first round — to just two points at halftime, four points through three quarters and, most importantly, limited touches.

Finley finished with 13, including a bunch of meaningless points in the fourth quarter when the contest was long since decided.

Madi Martinez had 17 points and three assists to lead the Rams. Jack added 12 points.