Lady Rattlers overwhelm Tigers

It took almost a month, but the Lady Rattlers basketball team finally played its home opener. And what a happy home opener it was.

Tucumcari took control early Thursday against a mismatched Raton squad during a 66-14 victory at Rattler Gymnasium. The Lady Rattlers scored the first 25 points of the game and didn't allow the Tigers a field goal until late in the second period.

The Rattlers originally were scheduled to hold their home opener against Robertson in late November, but that was rescheduled to Jan. 19 due to snowy weather in northern New Mexico.

Against Tucumcari's swarming defense, Raton found trouble even setting up a basic halfcourt offense. When the ball wasn't stripped from Tigers ball handlers, Lady Rattler defenders jumped their passing lanes.

July Lafferty scored 23 points to lead the Lady Rattlers, many of them on layups after her 10 steals. Caylee Benavidez and Kyla Lopez each added 13 points.

Tucumcari coach Patrick Benavidez could sympathize with the Tigers' problems. He told Raton's coach after the game he was reminded of THS' extremely young 2020-2021 team that went 1-10 during the COVID-shortened season. Raton is dressing six freshmen and one eighth-grader on its varsity squad, along with no seniors and just one junior.

Benavidez said he didn't have much to tell his team going against an overmatched opponent.

"I told them to play hard and work on fundamentals," Benavidez said. "We talked about moving the ball around a little bit, getting different girls involved. Caylee did a good job of that, trying to get other girls to score. We need to do that, get multiple players involved. It was a good game to work on that."

He said his team still is adjusting to the loss of freshman power forward Cambree Benavidez to a knee injury that will require surgery.

During Tucumcari's 25-0 lead to start the game, Lafferty scored four straight baskets on steals, prompting the Lady Rattlers to begin emptying the benches in the first quarter.

Tucumcari led 37-10 at halftime and 55-11 after three quarters. The referees imposed a running clock early in the third quarter once Tucumcari's lead reached 35 points.

Tucumcari improved 5-1 overall. Raton fell to 0-8.

Tucumcari 51, East Mountain 28

Caylee Benavides scored a game-high 26 points and totaled 10 rebounds, seven steals and four assists during a 51-28 non-district victory on Dec. 19 at East Mountain.

Kyla Lopez added 18 points, eight rebounds and six steals for the Lady Rattlers.

THS coach Patrick Benavidez said his team overtime East Mountain's superior size and some foul trouble.

"The girls did a good job moving the ball and driving to keep attacking the interior of the defense," he said. "Caylee did a wonderful job breaking the defense down and gave Kyla some great passes to get her going in the second half."

Coach Benavidez said his team still is adjusting from the loss of power forward Cambree Benavidez to a knee injury.

"We were a little rusty shooting, but we were getting good shots. I encouraged the girls to keep shooting, and eventually we will get them to go down," he said.

The host Timberwolves fell to 1-4.