Tucumcari tops Cuba in girls opener

The Tucumcari girls basketball team didn't rely as much on 3-pointers and press defense during its first-round playoff game Friday against Cuba.

This time, the fifth-seeded Lady Rattlers received a big lift from freshman center Kyla Lopez, who scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in a 68-41 victory over the 12th-seeded Lady Rams at a crowded Rattler Gymnasium.

"She was a game-changer, for sure, just going up there and getting rebounds," Tucumcari coach Patrick Benavidez said.

In addition to bringing an inside presence against Cuba's good-sized interior players, Lopez also went 9-for-12 from the free-throw line.

Tucumcari senior point guard Alexus Lafferty, in the final home game of her career, added 18 points (including four 3-pointers) and sophomore guard Caylee Benavidez scored 11.

The Lady Rattlers (20-6) were scheduled to play fourth-seeded Tohatchi (21-9) in the Class 3A quarterfinals at the Rio Rancho Events Center on Tuesday morning (after the Quay County Sun's deadline). Tohatchi blasted 13th-seeded Socorro 85-29 in its first-round game.

The semifinals and final were scheduled for Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Tucumcari shocked Cuba (16-15) by storming to a 14-0 lead and held a 23-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Lafferty scored 10 points during the period, and Lopez tallied six.

The Lady Rams found a groove with their inside game in the second period, cutting Tucumcari's lead to 30-23 at one point.

Cuba also adapted well against the Lady Rattlers' press and forced them to turn it off at one point.

"We made a point of that this week, to handle their press," Cuba coach Marti Toledo said. "Watching game film, we decided, 'We're going to break this press.' It caught us off-guard to see how fast they are that first quarter. After that, we got adjusted."

The Lady Rams also cut Tucumcari's lead to seven (33-26) early in the third period. It didn't surprise coach Benavidez that Cuba made a run.

"We knew they weren't going to go away after we made that surge in the first quarter," he said. "They weren't going to give up easily. Luckily, with their post players, we got them in foul trouble early."

Tucumcari put the game away with an 18-2 run in the third quarter to take a 51-28 lead.

Much of that surge, strangely enough, occurred when Lafferty had to go to the bench midway through the period with four fouls. Caylee Benavidez scored seven points, including a 3-pointer, during the quarter. Lopez added five points, and Haisley Huffman gave the hometown crowd a jolt with a traditional three-point play.

"The girls, they just continued to attack and get shots up," coach Benavidez said. "We made a great little run there in the third quarter when Alexus had to go to the bench with four fouls. The rest of the girls stepped it up and made a good run.

"These girls are playing good team basketball," he added. "They look and create for each other. We're going to make mistakes because we're still young, but they move on."

Asked about the key to the game, Toledo didn't hesitate in her answer.

'Their shots went in," she replied. "We couldn't buy a bucket tonight, no matter how many attempts we tried."

Coach Benavidez said he sought to keep mixing up defensives looks to keep Cuba's offense off-balance.

"We weren't looking for steals so much as we wanted to keep pressure on the ball, keep them out of their offense," he said.

Tucumcari's coach said Lafferty finished the game just 13 points from 1,000 for her career, despite one of her varsity seasons being shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He singled her out for praise not just because of scoring, but running the team's offense.

"Alexus, she just manages the same so well," he said.

Toledo took note of Lafferty, as well.

"That No. 12 is one heck of a player," she said.