Rio Rancho's girls take early lead in 1-5A

RIO RANCHO – It’s rare that a high school basketball game is decided this way, but Tuesday night’s showdown between Farmington’s girls and Rio Rancho’s was an exception.

Senior guard Arianna Charley of the Scorpions was standing at the free-throw line with 0.3 seconds showing after being fouled on a shot attempt, and third-ranked Farmington down two points to No. 2-ranked Rio Rancho.

Charley drained the first free throw but barely missed the second, the Rams rebounded and it was Rio Rancho (15-2) that gained the early upper hand in District 1-5A with a tense 55-54 victory in a league opener for both teams.

“We’re super excited,” said Rams sophomore guard Madi Martinez. “We didn’t care if we won by one or 20, we just wanted to come out with a win today.”

“A great sigh of relief,” Rio Rancho coach Lori Mabrey said.

It was the last of Martinez’s 35 points, a drive and finish with 1:14 seconds to go, that broke a 52-all tie.

Farmington hit a free throw with 12.9 seconds left. Rio Rancho made a free throw with 7.9 seconds showing.

Farmington had the ball last, and went up the floor looking for the game-tying basket. Charley was fouled with the clock at all zeroes, but officials put three-tenths back on.

And this game, which had overtime written all over it in the fourth quarter, was two free throws away from just that.

“You feel completely helpless,” Mabrey said. “That’s a high-pressure moment.”

A type of moment the Rams have faced often this season, she added as she reflected on how her team gave up such a large lead.

“We’ve been in enough of these games where we have to take care of the ball a little better down the stretch,” said Mabrey. “We inflict a lot of wounds on ourselves, and we have to get better at that.”

Farmington (14-3, but losers of two straight) did a tremendous job of overcoming a 14-point, second-half deficit, which was 35-21 early in the third quarter. Mabrey credited it to the Scorpions’ switch to a man defense that forced her team into ball-handling errors.

Farmington was fairly relentless as it overcame a slow start that got it into such a deficit in the first place.

Caris Dale buried a 3-pointer and Kjani Anitielu drained a mid-range jumper near the end of the third quarter, as Farmington was down just four at 41-37 when the fourth quarter began.

Makenna Pete’s only basket of the game for the Scorpions, a 3 with 7:23 remaining, gave Farmington — which trailed by 12 in the first quarter — its first lead at 42-41.

The Scorpions had five leads in a back-and-fourth final eight minutes that featured five ties and four lead changes.

Martinez’s decision to take the initiative on what proved to be the game-winning basket was the difference.

“I just did what I do in practice and took it,” said Martinez of her decision to drive to the basket.

The Rams will visit Farmington for the rematch on Feb. 5.

“We had grit and passion to make sure we came (out) with a win,” Martinez said.

Carly Conley led the Scorpions with 16 points. Anitielu added 11.