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PREP BASKETBALL
Preps: Kirtland girls start fast, hold off La Cueva; Sandia boys beat Hope in shootout
Multiple tournaments tip off around metro area on Thursday
RIO RANCHO — The La Cueva Bears were sunk by a disastrous opening four minutes of their anticipated girls basketball showdown with Kirtland Central on Thursday afternoon.
The Broncos, Class 4A’s second-ranked team, overwhelmed La Cueva coming out of the gate in the opening round of the Mel Otero Invitational at Rio Rancho High School, scoring 22 of the game’s first 26 points.
The Bears, ranked No. 4 in 5A, never could quite overcome that, though they did make a valiant attempt in what proved to be a 76-65 Kirtland Central victory.
Prep basketball tournaments began all over the metro area Thursday, in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.
This game was perhaps the best first-round matchup to be found at any gym.
Kirtland Central led by as many as 22 points in the first half; the deficit was slashed to three, 50-47, midway through the third quarter after a basket by Jordyn Dyer, but sophomore guard Allyson Tsosie of the Broncos buried consecutive 3-pointers from in front of her bench, part of a 10-0 run that put the game out of reach.
“Overall, it was good we won,” Kirtland Central coach Devon Manning said, “but we were sloppy in trying to finish out the game. I thought we didn’t handle the pressure late.”
The Broncos (4-0) play the host Rams (5-0), who are 5A’s second-ranked team, at 1 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Rio Rancho downed Centennial 59-50 on Thursday.
Kirtland Central swarmed La Cueva (2-2) from the opening tip, with energy and turnovers putting a quick and major gap between the two.
Tsosie, Haylee Nocki and Zoey Benally each connected from long distance during that 22-4 run to start the game for the Broncos.
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Tsosie, who scored a team-best 23 points, drained another 3 two minutes into the second quarter for a 33-11 advantage.
“I just think we had great energy, and we let our press dictate our energy,” Manning said.
La Cueva steadily carved into that lead, and went into halftime down just nine, at 42-33. And the Bears played their best basketball of the day coming out of half. Sophomore Siena Tesinsky hit consecutive 3s to bring La Cueva within four at 47-43 during a fantastic sequence in which the teams combined four four treys in a span of 45 seconds.
“At first, we started off good, (but) La Cueva showed us a lot of our weaknesses. They exposed our weaknesses,” Tsosie said. “We adjusted and we battled, and we got back up and finished it.”
Dyer’s basket made it 50-47, but then Tsosie’s long-range marksmanship left the Bears unable to rally a second time.
“I’m proud that we battled back, that’s a little more who we are,” La Cueva coach Marisa Cogan said. “But Kirtland Central is too good a team to get down by that much. … We got it close, but we were gassed at the end.”
Kirtland Central now faces Rio Rancho, and these two met in this event a year ago. Rams coach Lori Mabrey is a former Bronco herself.
In the early boys action at the Joe Armijo Classic at Albuquerque Academy on Thursday, Centennial and Sandia won close first-round games.
Sandia outscored Hope Christian 92-90, while Centennial downed Del Norte 62-58. The Matadors and Hawks, who just met in Albuquerque last weekend, will square off again at 8:15 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Sophomore guard Isaiah Brown had a team-high 35 points Thursday for Sandia (3-2). George Smith added 20 points.
The other two first-round games were late Thursday night.
In the girls’ Armijo bracket, Cleveland, Las Cruces, Sandia and the host Chargers won first-rond games Thursday.
The Storm downed Del Norte 44-27, the Bulldawgs edged Hope Christian 47-43, Sandia routed Artesia 67-29 and Academy defeated Organ Mountain 71-42.
Cleveland and Las Cruces meet at 3 p.m. Friday in the semifinals, to be followed at 4:45 by Sandia and Academy.
The Phil Griego Invite at Cleveland also tipped off Thursday in a boys-only field.
Santa Fe opened the day with a 62-55 victory over West Mesa. La Cueva beat Cibola 64-53, so the Bears will face the Demons at 5 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal.
On the top half of the bracket, the host Storm were playing late Thursday,
