'These girls couldn’t miss tonight': Kirtland Central puts on dazzling shooting display

Kirtland Central’s Emilia Clani lines up a shot against St. Pius during their game Wednesday night.

Kirtland Central’s Amber Shorty attempts a 3-pointer during Wednesday’s game against St. Pius.

St. Pius’ Bella Candelaria moves the ball down court during their game against Kirtland Central at St. Pius X in Albuquerque on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024.

James Yodice James Yodice James Yodice Journal Staff Writer

Published January 3, 2024 - 9:02 p.m. Modified February 7, 2025 - 2:00 a.m.

From the two-things-can-be-true-at-the-same-time department:

One, the St. Pius X girls basketball team clearly is one of Class 4A’s best rosters.

Two, there is, at least for the moment, a significant gap between the Sartans and one of the two teams ranked ahead of them in the most recent coaches poll.

Indeed, visiting Kirtland Central put on a staggering shooting display in the first half of this elite matchup on Wednesday night on the West Side. The only word that seemed appropriate to describe this was deluge.

The Broncos buried 10 3-pointers in the first half alone — and there was another shot from distance that would have been a 3 had the Kirtland shooter’s foot not barely been touching the arc line — and 4A’s second-ranked team was hugely impressive from start to finish in an 80-55 victory over No. 3-ranked St. Pius.

The natural inclination was to wonder if the Broncos have had a half of shooting that came anywhere close to the dazzling opening 16 minutes on Wednesday.

“Probably not,” Kirtland Central coach Devon Manning said with a grin. “We’ve been OK on shooting, but it just seemed like these girls couldn’t miss tonight.”

He wasn’t far from the truth.

Kirtland Central (9-1) hit five 3s in the first four minutes of the game and was up double digits (17-5) before anyone’s seat was warm. Sophomore Haylee Nocki knocked down a pair 3-pointers, and so did Alysson Tsosie, an eighth-grader who hit two threes in the first four minutes and had five from beyond the arc in the first half.

“I think we were just feeling good, and we just wanted it,” the soft-spoken Tsosie said. She finished with a team-best 22 points, including a couple of marvelous finishes around the basket. On one, she circled the dribble behind her back before finishing at the net.

“We had a lot of shooters who were hitting tonight,” Manning said.

No need to remind St. Pius coach Brio Rode of this. Asked if any team has shot it that well against them this season, Rode said:

“Nope. Not even close.”

Emilia Clani added 14 points, Nocki 11 for the Broncos, whose most recent trip to Albuquerque didn’t end so well, with La Cueva burying a buzzer-beating 3 to win 50-47 just last week.

“It was just a good first half,” Tsosie said, with a quick reference to La Cueva. “We were ready. We didn’t want to lose.”

And there was no drama to be found anywhere Wednesday.

“We punched them in the mouth pretty good and it knocked them on their backs a little bit,” Manning said.

The Broncos led by 17 at the end of the first quarter (24-7), and St. Pius was no closer than 15 the rest of the way.

Alyssa Maes led the Sartans with 20 points. Bella Candelaria added 17, including five 3-pointers, for St. Pius. The Sartans don’t get much of a respite; they face another No. 2-ranked team on Friday, that being 5A’s unbeaten Sandia.