Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari girls basketball team righted itself after a tough district loss earlier in the week with a resounding 46-24 victory Saturday against New Mexico Military Institute at Roswell.
The Lady Rattlers led 12-8 after one quarter and 28-11 at intermission. Tucumcari improved to 10-8 overall and 1-1 in Class 3A’s District 4.
Alexus Lafferty scored 18 points, and July Lafferty added 10 for the Lady Rattlers.
“I was satisfied how the girls played on both ends of the floor,” Tucumcari coach Patrick Benavidez said. “We rebounded well against a taller NMMI team and were able to push the ball up the floor.”
The game originally was set for Thursday but rescheduled due to a midweek snowstorm.
The Lady Rattlers have a chance to tie for first place in the district standings with a victory Thursday over Dexter at the Snake Pit.
NMMI fell to 0-8 overall.
Dexter 46, Tucumcari 43
A technical foul against the Tucumcari bench with less than a minute remaining gave the host Lady Demons the margin it needed in a 46-43 Dexter victory in a district opener Feb. 1.
Alexus Laffery scored 15 points to lead the Lady Rattlers, and Caylee Benavidez added 11.
Tucumcari trailed by nine points at one point before its comeback bid in the second half.
“We fell behind early in the game and got into really early foul trouble, but we knew we just had to stay close to give ourselves a chance,” coach Benavidez said. “Kyla Samaniego and Elena Gutierrez really stepped off the bench and played great.
“We learned a lot from the game and are looking forward to playing them again on our home floor (on Feb. 10).”
The Lady Rattlers with less than a minute left had a chance to take the lead on two free throws but missed both. In the struggle for the rebound, Tucumcari was called for a foul, then coach Benavidez was whistled for a technical foul while protesting the call.
With 45.7 seconds left, the Lady Demons made three of four free throws. Tucumcari missed a 3-pointer and committed a turnover with the waning seconds.
Dexter improved to 12-4 overall.