Gallup spoils Academy's opener, Harper Dunn's debut

GALLUP — For five impressive and crowd-quieting minutes, the Albuquerque Academy Chargers showed precisely the type of flash that has them believing they might be able to play on the final day of the 2025-26 girls basketball season.

To wit: Academy on Monday night scored the first 13 points against defending Class 4A state champion Gallup, a most definite punch to the Bengals’ mouth.

But 90 minutes later, it was Gallup (2-0) which had registered a 13-point win, 58-45 on opening night for Academy and the debut in a Chargers uniform for nationally recruited junior Harper Dunn

“We proved tonight that we’re one of the best teams in the state,” Academy coach Josh Skarsgard said. “I would love to play them with our starting five intact for the entire game.”

Dunn, the high-profile, 6-foot-6 transfer from Corona being recruited by dozens of Division I programs — the most recent offer coming from Duke — was hampered by foul trouble all night.

She finished with just two points, and eight rebounds. She fouled out 2½ minutes into the third quarter.

“I wasn’t in a place where I could play how I normally do,” Dunn said.

The same could be said of the Chargers as a whole.

Academy fouled out four starters in this game. Gallup (2-0) shot 29 free throws (converting on 23 of the tries, compared to just seven attempts for the Chargers. The foul count was 29-16.

Gallup junior guard Marie Nez fouled out three Academy players on her own, largely due to her crafty drives and finishes that continually drew contact. She scored all 23 of her team-best points after halftime.

“We finished the game with three JV players,” Skarsgard said. “The foul count did us in tonight.”

At the start, it was Lily Skarsgard and Addie Spratley each canning a pair of 3-pointers for the Chargers in that 13-0 burst out of the gate. Dunn’s only points occurred during this run, on a layup.

Gallup coach Todd McBroom’s bunch eventually scored the last eight of the first half to trail 23-17, and then took over in the second half.

“Yeah, I thought at the beginning, their length bothered us a little bit. They’ve got college-size length out there,” McBroom said. “It just took us a little bit to adjust.”

Gallup was 0 for 11 from the arc in the opening two quarters; his message at halftime was get to the basket and create. … (get) to the basket and make them make plays.”

Nez excelled at that, repeatedly drawing fouls. She was fouled by Dunn on a layup, and the subsequent three-point play made it 23-20. She fouled Dunn out a couple of moments later on an almost identical play.

With younger players pressed into service due to the foul situation, Academy turned it over 18 times in the second half and, unofficially, 29 times in the game.

“I thought throughout the game, we really wore them down with our speed and pressure,” McBroom said. “He (Skarsgard) is only really wanting to rotate six girls over there. When he had to get into his bench, it was bad news for him.”

Still, Academy showed some grit and the Chargers owned a six-point lead, 44-38, early in the fourth quarter.

But Gallup went on a lengthy 13-0 run that lasted four minutes, and Gallup, with the final basket of that run being a 3-pinter by Nez, led 51-44 with 3:18 to go. Academy turned it over seven times during those four minutes, and the Chargers registered only one point over the final 7:22 of the game.

Lily Skarsgard had a team-high 18 points for Academy. Spratley added 17 points.

“It’s our first game, we’re gonna get better,” Lily Skarsgard said. “I think it was great facing them in the first game, it was a good test for us.”

She added, “Even though it didn’t end up how we wanted, I have plenty of respect for that team, and hopefully we can see them again later in the season.”