Sandia looking like a threat once again in Class 5A

There will surely be quite a few high school girls basketball districts that will be decided on the final couple of days of the regular season.

District 2-5A isn’t going to be on that list.

Class 5A defending state champion Sandia made sure of that Thursday night. The fifth-ranked Matadors pulled away in the second half from visiting, seventh-ranked La Cueva and throttled the Bears 65-38 to essentially end the regular-season suspense in 2-5A.

Sandia (19-3, 6-0 in 2-5A) has a two-game lead in district over second-place La Cueva (12-9, 4-2) and the Matadors have now swept the Bears in league play.

“It’s a question, right?” Sandia coach Lee Kettig said. “With a new team, I have to judge to let it fly, or kind of double down on the importance of it. I decided to point out, it’s our district rival and it’s for first place and to take it seriously.”

Sandia used an 11-0 run for a double-digit lead in the second quarter. Chloe Brown hit a 3-pointer and a short-range jumper during that run as the Matadors seized a 30-20 lead at halftime.

The game was still competitive and very much still in doubt, with La Cueva down only eight, 32-24, with five minutes to go in the third quarter.

Then Sandia rattled off another 11-0 run. Kaiyah Benally’s difficult shot from under the basket got the burst started, Mikayla Hogan scored on the low post and freshman guard Mia Wright buried a 3 as Sandia stretched to a 43-24 lead.

“We treated it as a very important game,” said Benally following Sandia’s third victory over La Cueva this season. “The whole team was thinking, we’re 0-0, just to get us motivated.”

This particular second-half run actually became a 21-1 game-clinching run for Sandia, as that earlier eight-point lead was 28 (53-25) by the end of the third quarter. Only a Jordyn Dyer free throw for the Bears stopped La Cueva from going scoreless during those five final minutes of the quarter.

“I feel like we’re still building chemistry,” said Benally, a sophomore point guard in her third season. “We’re a good team, we’re a young team, so we have had time to develop and grow together.”

Sandia’s only three losses came to Hobbs, Rio Rancho and Albuquerque High, and the last two were both very close.

Benally led the way with 19 points Thursday night. The Matadors had plenty of scoring balance.

Dyer had a team-best 16 points for La Cueva.

“One of the things that I’m most impressed with with this young group is their ability to execute our defensive game plan,” Kettig said. “In my experience, that takes time. … As good as (Jordyn) is, we’ll play games against her and if we’re not doing it just right against her, she’ll score 25.”

District 1-4A is another girls league that surely is not going to feature any suspense between now and the end of the regular season on Feb. 21.

No. 1-ranked Kirtland Central, which already routed No. 2 Gallup on the Bengals’ home floor, pounded Gallup 88-46 on Thursday night and possess a two-game lead in the 1-4A standings.

Rio Rancho in 1-5A on Thursday night had a chance to do what Sandia and Kirtland Central did. But third-ranked Farmington, at home, beat the second-ranked Rams 74-61 to create a first-place tie in the league. (Rio Rancho beat Farmington by a single point last month.)

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.