PREP BASKETBALL
Rio Rancho, Albuquerque High, Valencia girls win district tournament titles on Friday night
Many more districts will have their tournament finals on Saturday
Rio Rancho, Albuquerque High and Valencia were among the girls basketball teams who won district tournament championship games on Friday night.
The third-ranked Rams, led by sophomore guard Madi Martinez’s 29 points, went on the road and beat No. 2 Farmington 53-49 in the District 1-5A tournament final.
At Bulldog City, fourth-ranked AHS spotted No. 6-ranked Los Lunas an 11-2 lead, but the Bulldogs regrouped and beat the Tigers 33-28 in the District 5-5A tournament final. AHS has won 5-5A five seasons running.
Valencia’s girls captured first place in the 5-4A tournament, defeating visiting Highland 49-34. Jaiden Montgomery scored a team-best 19 points for the Jaguars, and also reached the 1,000-point career milestone in the victory.
There will be an assortment of boys and girls district finals around the metro area on Saturday.
Sandia and La Cueva’s boys meet at 3 p.m. at La Cueva in the 2-5A final. At 4 p.m. at AHS, the Bulldogs and Atrisco Heritage square off in the 5-5A boys tournament title game. No. 1 Cleveland and No. 2 Volcano Vista collide in the 1-5A tournament final at 6 p.m. at Volcano.
Sandia is hosting La Cueva at 5 p.m. in the girls 2-5A final.
Highland’s boys welcome Belen at 6 p.m. Saturday in 5-4A; Albuquerque Academy’s girls play host to Hope Christian at 5 p.m. in 6-4A; the boys’ 6-4A final has Del Norte, the top seed, taking on Hope at 6:30 p.m. The Huskies advanced with an 81-78 overtime win in the semifinals Friday night over Academy.
