Tucumcari goes 2-1 at Lady Rattler Invite

The Tucumcari girls basketball team won two of three during its inaugural Lady Rattler Invite tournament last weekend and came within an eyelash of winning the first-place trophy.

The Lady Rattlers (8-3) closed the tourney Saturday with a come-from-behind 47-40 victory over Santa Rosa.

Tucumcari scored the last nine points of the game.

Alexus Lafferty, who made the all-tournament team, scored 17 points to lead the Lady Rattlers against the Lady Lions. Teammates July Lafferty and Caylee Benavidez also were voted to the all-tournament team.

Tucumcari defeated Raton 51-34 in the opener Thursday and lost 51-50 to No. 9-ranked and eventual tournament champion Thoreau (8-3) on Friday.

Against Santa Rosa, Tucumcari struggled with its shooting and fell behind by double digits during the second quarter.

"We missed so many layups," Lady Rattlers coach Patrick Benavidez said. "We probably were 1-for-8 in the first half with wide-open layups."

He admitted he also became frustrated with the officiating during the game.

"We talked about it at halftime; you're going to have games where the referees are going to call it tight on every little thing," he said. "I told the girls, 'You're going to run the show.' The more you try to correct the calls, it seems to make things worse.

"We knew we outmatched them position by position. We knew if we could play more in control, they would draw more fouls in the second half."

Tucumcari chipped away at Santa Rosa's lead. Kyla Lopez scored six of her 11 points during the third period.

A defensive adjustment in the fourth quarter also kept Santa Rosa off the scoreboard.

"We changed it to a 1-2-2 press," coach Benavidez said. "Before, we'd run a 1-2-1-1. Just changing the look of the press hurt (Santa Rosa) a little bit. We got more steals and were able to take it to the basket."

July Lafferty gave Tucumcari the lead for good with a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter. Two Lady Lions starters fouled out, and the Lady Rattlers made four of six three throws in the final three minutes.

Daelyn Pacheco led Santa Rosa with 11 points. Santa Rosa fell to 7-3.

Thoreau 51, Tucumcari 50

Tucumcari nearly pulled off a comeback win against Thoreau in a game Friday that featured five lead changes and five ties.

The Lady Rattlers jolted the Hawks with a 10-2 start. Thoreau kept its cool and tied it near the end of the quarter, 11-11.

Thoreau surged to leads of 26-19 in the second period and 39-33 in the third.

Tucumcari tied it early in the fourth with an Alexus Lafferty 3-pointer and a fastbreak bucket by Cambree Benavidez.

With less than a minute left, Caylee Benavidez scored an inside shot to cut Thoreau's lead to 51-48, then made one of two free throws with 18 seconds left to make it 51-49.

Benavidez, who scored a team-high 20 points, was fouled again with 4 1/2 seconds left. She made first free throw to cut Thoreau's lead to 51-50 but missed the second that likely would have sent the game to overtime.

Coach Benavidez said his daughter was disappointed about missing the tying foul shot, but the dismay was short-lived.

"She's a competitor, and she was hard on herself," he said. "But this group of girls looks at the whole aspec0t of the game. It didn't cross their mind on the missed free throw. They looked to the next play and nearly got the steal."

It appeared July Lafferty made a steal near the Tucumcari hoop, but she instead was whistled for a foul with 1.5 seconds left.

"It was a bang-bang call, and it went the opposite way for us," coach Benavidez said.

Thoreau's first one-and-one free throw missed, but the Lady Rattlers didn't have enough time to set up a good, last-moment shot.

Leah Delgarito led the Hawks with 15 points.

Tucumcari's coach said the game could pay benefits down the road.

"It was good we saw Thoreau and that we can play with them; that's one of the teams we'll probably see in the first or second round of state," he said. "The girls stepped up the level of their play. To see the confidence in our girls, that will help us a lot."

Tucumcari 51, Raton 34

Alexus Lafferty's 3-point shooting ignited the Lady Rattlers to 9-0 and 26-6 leads in the first half during a 51-34 victory over Raton during Tucumcari's opening game of the Lady Rattler Invite.

Lafferty made six 3-pointers and totaled a game-high 24 points before leg cramps sidelined her late in the third quarter.

Caylee Benavidez added 10 points for Tucumcari.

"We played pretty solid. We got a lot of girls playing time, which is always a good thing," coach Benavidez said.

The Lady Rattlers led 16-6 after one quarter, 29-11 at halftime and 40-25 after three periods. Tucumcari never trailed by fewer than 13 after the second quarter.

Jennifer Mottorano scored 10 points to lead Raton.

Raton fell to 3-7 overall. Tucumcari also defeated the Lady Tigers 41-23 at their gym on Dec. 12.