Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari's July Lafferty (left) and Haisley Huffman harass a Santa Rosa ball handler during their game Thursday during the Lady Rattler Invitational. Lafferty was named MVP of the tournament, and Huffman was an all-tourney selection.
The Lady Rattlers never gave up.
The Tucumcari girls basketball team, outplayed for much of the game, overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to edge Thoreau 45-44 on Saturday in the championship game of the second annual Lady Rattler Invitational.
July Lafferty, named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, scored after an offensive rebound with 1 minute, 19 seconds left to give her team the winning margin. Lafferty scored a total of 62 points during the tournament's three games.
All-tourney selection Kyla Lopez scored 14 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter to help fuel the comeback. Tucumcari outscored Thoreau 20-5 in the period.
Caylee Benavidez, Kirksey Smith and Haisley Huffman also made all-tournament team for the Lady Rattlers, who improved to 9-1 overall.
THS coach Patrick Benavidez almost was at a loss for words when asked about his team's improbable comeback win.
"Man ... these girls have a lot of fight in them," he said. "We just had to keep it within reach, and (trailing by) 14 points seems a little out of reach in the fourth quarter, but these girls just don't give up."
Thoreau coach Rachel Becenti said after all the good things her Lady Hawks did in the first three quarters, they stopped doing them in the final period.
"It just seemed like we couldn't take care of the ball," she said. "Turnovers hurt us. So did not being smart with shot selection. We stopped rebounding; they beat us on the boards."
The Lady Rattlers, hampered earlier by turnovers, missed shots and foul trouble to ball handler Benavidez, trailed 13-8 after the first quarter and 24-17 at intermission.
The deficit grew to double digits during the third period.
"In the third quarter, they were kind of gassed," coach Benavidez said. "It looked like they were kind of giving up a little bit. I called a timeout and got them back on track."
Before the big surge, Tucumcari faced a 40-26 deficit after the third quarter.
Despite that, their coach didn't think the game was out of reach.
"We sometimes go a long time without scoring, then we can put some points up quick," he said. "We always think, within 15 points in a quarter, we can pressure the ball and get back in it."
A key adjustment the coach made was moving the 5-foot-8 Smith to the front of his team's 1-2-2 press defense.
"We've moved Kirksey up front in the press before, and she just creates havoc because of her length," coach Benavidez said. "The girls then began to make good reads on the ball."
Lopez also got hot behind the 3-point arc, making two shots to bring her team within 45-40.
After that, she sank a 10-footer and scored off a steal with 2:37 left to pull the Lady Rattlers within 45-44.
"The momentum changed completely, and (Thoreau) got kinda flustered," coach Benavidez said.
Becenti added: "They went on a run, and we just lost our momentum, our focus on what we needed to do defensively."
Lafferty scored on an offensive putback to give her team a 46-45 lead with 1:19 left. The Lady Rattlers then forced a turnover, and they played keep-away to burn time from the clock.
Thoreau had used all its timeouts earlier in the quarter, and that lack of a strategy session hurt in the final minute.
"We've got a young team, and some things we did in the final minute of play, it showed we have a young team. The defenses, the time left on the clock, the girls just didn't notice those things. That was a factor," Becenti said.
"I was really surprised we were able to run off as much time as we did," coach Benavidez said.
The Lady Hawks made a steal with less than a minute yet, but their shot was well off the mark. Tucumcari rebounded and burned the rest of the clock. Thoreau only had a couple of team fouls going into the final minute, so the Lady Rattlers didn't even go to the free-throw line after being fouled.
Keira Begay led the Lady Hawks with 11 points.
Tucumcari 62, Portales JV 25
After a sluggish first quarter, the Lady Rattlers outscored the Portales junior varsity 41-7 in the second and third quarters during a 62-25 victory on Friday at the round-robin tournament.
Lafferty scored 24 points to lead Tucumcari, with Lopez adding 16 and Benavidez 14.
Portales plays in the Class 4A division.
Tucumcari 58, Santa Rosa 26
Tucumcari took control early and rolled to a 58-26 victory over Santa Rosa in the first day of the tournament.
The Lady Rattlers led 14-5 after one quarter and 27-9 at intermission. A 21-point outburst in the third period gave them a 51-17 advantage.
Lafferty scored 26 points, and Lopez added 12.
Santa Rosa ended the weekend with a 2-7 record.
