Girls

State tournament

First round

Class 2A

Texico 65, Cuba 38

Records: Texico 25-2, Cuba 16-12

Recap: Sophomore post Shaylee Anderson led a three-pronged scoring attack with 21 points and top-ranked Texico pulled away from pesky Rams in the second half.

Jordyn Cooper added 17 points and twins sister Jaylyn Cooper 15 points as the defending state champs outscored Cuba 39-19 in the second half.

“I don’t know that we were totally aggressive breaking their press (early),” Texico coach Keith Durham said. “In the second half, we were more aggressive, and then the Red Sea opened.”

Lavencie Cayabitto led the No. 16 Rams with 18 points.

Up next: Texico faces the winner of Mesa Vista and Magdalena on Tuesday at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho.

Class 1A

Melrose 69, Springer 40

Records: Melrose 20-10, Springer 16-13

Recap: Kelsey Draper scored a season-high 26 points and Cara Barnard added 22 as Melrose ran away from the visiting Red Devils.

Draper scored 10 points and Barnard six as the fourth-seeded Lady Buffs outscored Springer 21-5 in the second quarter to grab a 35-11 halftime lead.

Melrose coach Toby Bostwick said his team turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter.

“We manned them up in the second quarter and we just ran the ball,” Bostwick said. “From the second quarter we didn’t even set up our offense once.

“That could have been the best game we played all year. We might have shot the ball better before, but we just really played smart.”

Brandi Burton led No. 13 Springer with 15 points.

Up next: Melrose plays No. 5 Cliff on in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Cliff beat Hagerman 54-37 in the first round.

Fort Sumner 64, Mescalero 35

Records: Fort Sumner 24-3, Mescalero 15-12

Recap: Sarah Stinnett scored 20 points and G.A. Tucker added 18 as the top-seeded Vixens breezed into the state quarterfinals.

Fort Sumner scored the game’s first 12 points and never looked back, leading 26-7 after one quarter and 38-15 at halftime in Fort Sumner.

LaNay Crenshaw added 10 points for the Vixens.

Valerie Garcia led No. 16 Mescalero with 14 points.

Dora 37, Cimarron 36

Records: Cimarron 13-14, Dora 17-11

Recap: Senior Kelli Merrick hit a short baseline shot with four seconds left and the seventh-seeded Lady Coyotes advanced to Tuesday’s state quarterfinals.

Cimarron’s Alyssa Chavez scored with 10 seconds to go, giving the Lady Rams just their second lead of the game. After a timeout, Dora ran Merrick off two screens to get her a shot in the short corner.

Merrick finished with 20 points for the Lady Coyotes. Chavez and Lacy Harris scored 10 points apiece for Cimarron.

District 2-B championship

Elida 68, Grady 42

Records: Elida 23-3, Grady 18-10

Recap: The Lady Tigers jumped on Grady for a 22-5 lead at the quarter and were never threatened.

Senior Amanda Cross-Smith scored a personal-best 20 points for Elida, while seniors Margarita Ortiz and Reavis Best added 19 and 15, respectively. Elida held the Lady Bronchos to nine field goals.

“We came out really stronog in the first quarter,” Elida coach Dan Howard said. “I thought our defense stepped up tonight and played well, and our bench came in and played really well too.”

The Lady Tigers are likely to get a No. 1 seed on Sunday. Despite the loss, the Lady Bronchos could be a second or third seed, Howard said.

Senior Mandy Rush led Grady with 13 points, while sophomore Brenna Thomas scored 10.

— Freedom New Mexico