PREP BASKETBALL
4A girls: Top four seeds cruise into semis
Gallup, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Academy, Kirtland Central and Hope Christian roll
Both of last season鈥檚 finalists are still alive in Class 4A .
Defending state champion Gallup advanced to the semifinals with a 48-38 victory over Silver to close out the Class 4A quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Pit. The second-seeded Bengals will face No. 3 sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Academy, which dispatched No. 11 Shiprock 63-44, at 8 a.m. on Thursday.
In the other half of the bracket, 2025 runner-up Kirtland Central rolled past No. 9 Lovington 68-25. The top-seeded Broncos will meet No. 4 Hope Christian, a 48-35 winner over No. 5 Valencia in the opening game of the day. Kirtland Central vs. Hope will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.
No. 2 GALLUP 48, No. 7 SILVER 38: After beating the Colts by 35 and 25 points in two regular season meetings, the Bengals (26-4) had to take a different approach to earn victory in the trilogy.
That started with defense, and more specifically, the efforts of Mykeia Vicenti, who had 12 of her team鈥檚 22 steals as the Bengals forced Silver (22-7) into 32 turnovers. That helped alleviate both a slow start for Gallup and a furious finish by the Colts in what turned out to be a closer-than-expected matchup.
鈥淚 thought we played hard. Defensively, we played real well,鈥� said Gallup coach Todd McBroom. 鈥淔orced 32 turnovers on them 鈥� and so that's always a positive. When you can do that, even when you don't have your best night necessarily shooting the ball, you can still find a way to win depending on your defense.鈥�
Silver jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, with Nyssa Tinajero providing all of the offense for the Colts. The Bengals put on the clamps from there, holding Silver scoreless for approximately eight minutes while they went on a 12-0 run. After taking a 24-16 lead into haltime, Gallup appeared to be on the verge of putting the game away with a 11-0 run to begin the third quarter.
The Colts didn鈥檛 quit, however, as they clawed back to within 45-38 with less than two minutes remaining before Gallup sealed the victory at the foul ine. Tinajero, who finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds, was a catalyst behind the Colts鈥� rally with eight points in the final stanza.
As for Vicenti, she says it was likely a career night in terms of steals. She also led Gallup in both points (11) and assists (six), but it was that defensive effort that ultimately made the difference.
鈥淲e started off really slow,鈥� Vicenti said. 鈥淣one of our shots were falling. And that frustration was coming in between the team. I thought I had to step up my game in order to win.鈥�
No. 3 ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY 63, No. 11 SHIPROCK 44: The Chargers (25-5) survived an early injury scare and relied on their frontcourt dominance to cruise past the Chieftains (16-14).
Academy鈥檚 Lily Skarsgard had to be carried off the court after suffering an ankle sprain early in the second quarter, but that didn鈥檛 stop the Chargers from extending a three-point first quarter lead to nine at halftime. While Skarsgard returned briefly in the third quarter, her movement was still quite limited. At least on this day, her presence wasn鈥檛 needed.
Even with their point guard sidelined, the Chargers asserted themselves inside thanks to the combined efforts of Harper Dunn (18 points), Addie Spratley (17) and Kiara Brown (12). By the end of the third quarter, Academy led by 17 and Shiprock鈥檚 hopes of an upset were essentially extinguished.
鈥淲hen Lily went down with her injury, it took a little steam out of our team,鈥� said Academy coach Joshua Skarsgard. 鈥淏ut like all year, we've been resilient, so I told them I was proud of their resilience. To see your captain get hurt and still keep playing and advance that lead was gutsy.鈥�
The Chargers outscored the Chieftains 36 to 8 in the paint and outrebounded their much smaller adversaries 40 to 26. Ten of Shiprock鈥檚 14 field goals for the game came from beyond the arc.
鈥淚f they hit a couple more shots, they could have got us today,鈥� Joshua Skarsgard said. 鈥淚 mean, they're great shooters 鈥� they鈥檙e gutsy.鈥�
As for his daughter 鈥� and starting floor general 鈥� Joshua Skarsgard didn鈥檛 have a clear prognosis for her status moving forward.
鈥淚 don't know the grade of the sprain, but she was able to play. I think you guys saw she wasn't laterally quick,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he's going to get ice, e-stim, Kinesio Tape鈥� We're going to dump a lot into her for the next 48 hours, so we'll see if she can go. But she was definitely not 100% in that second half.鈥�
No. 1 KIRTLAND CENTRAL 68, No. 9 LOVINGTON 25: As the first quarter drew to a close, the looks of frustration and fatigue were already evident on the faces of the Wildcats. That鈥檚 par for the course against the Broncos (27-3), who earned their 19th victory of 30 points or more against Lovington (20-9).
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 fun (to play us), no,鈥� said Kirtland鈥檚 Haylee Nocki. 鈥淲e put a lot of pressure on you.鈥�
That might be an understatement. The Broncos scored 31 points off 29 Lovington turnovers, harassing the Wildcats with relentless pressure all over the court. Kirtland led by 15 points after one quarter, 29 after two and 38 after three. As a result, a running clock was in place for the duration of the final period.
鈥淟ovington has some pretty good players on there, but these girls were just a little more hungry this afternoon, and defensively is where we want it,鈥� said Broncos coach Devon Manning. 鈥淲e were just all over them for basically the entire game.鈥�
Both Nocki and Allyson Tsosie led Kirtland with 24 points apiece, and the two standouts combined for eight of their team鈥檚 nine 3-pointers. The Broncos also shared the ball, with five different players tallying three or more assists.
Ashelynn Borunda led Lovington with 16 points but shot just 6 of 18 from the floor, while 6-foot-6 post Abbi Shouse was limited to six points on 3-for-13 shooting for the Wildcats.
No. 4 HOPE CHRISTIAN 48, No. 5 VALENCIA 35: Abrianna Bishop scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the third quarter as the Huskies (25-6) pulled away from the Jaguars (22-7).
Hope used a 10-0 run to open the second half to go up 32-15. Meanwhile, Valencia didn鈥檛 score until Francesca Otero hit a 3 at the 1:57 mark of the third quarter.
鈥淲e just wanted to spend as long as we can together, so we just knew that we had to step it up and get this win,鈥� Bishop said.
Valencia kept it close with hot shooting from beyond the arc in the first half, but the Jaguars struggled with Hope鈥檚 size and length when they were unable to get open shots from the perimeter. When all was said and done, Valencia shot better from the 3-point line (40%) than it did from inside the arc (27%). The Huskies also dominated inside offensively, outscoring Valencia by a 32-to-8 count in the paint.
鈥淲e knew we had an advantage with size,鈥� said Hope coach Michael Cole. 鈥淭here's not a lot of teams with much more size than us. There's a couple, but not a lot. So, I think we were able to control there.鈥�
Adalynn Day added 10 points and seven assists for Hope. Savannah Saavedra led the way for the Jaguars with 12 points, including four of her team鈥檚 eight 3-pointers.
