Lady Rattlers sophomore Elizabeth Smith, looks down the court for an open player after securing the rebound. The Lady Rattlers lost 63-35 to the Lady Longhorns Friday night during the semi finals of the Route 66 Classic basketball tournament.

Rattlers sophomore Jospeh Chavez moves in to defend Longhorns Cimmaron Osborn as he tries to move down the base line. The Rattlers beat the Longhorns 61-55 and advanced the the championship game against the Fort Sumner Foxes.

The Tucumcari Rattlers split wins with the Logan Longhorns in the second day of the Route 66 Classic basketball tournament at Tucumcari.

The Lady Rattlers lost 36-35 to the Lady Longhorns Friday night. In the final seconds, the game came down to foul shots.

"One word free throws that is what hurt us," said Lady Rattlers head coach Gary Hittson. 

With 11 seconds on the clock, the Rattlers trailed by 2. Then on an inbound pass, Lady Rattlers sophomore Laura Fought was fouled, She made 1-2 free throws, but time ran out before they could get the ball back.

Throughout the entire game the Lady Rattlers missed free throws which slowly cut away at the scoreboard and by the end of the night they were 13-26.

"We need to work on making our free throws, if we had made them the game would have turned out different," said Rattler senior Kadi Powers.

With the Lady Rattlers leading 20-10 at the half,  it appeared they had the game well in hand as they controlled the glass pulling down the rebounds and limiting the Lady Longhorns second shot chances.

"We missed the easy shots and were not rebounding in that first half like we should have," said Lady Longhorns head coach Clair Rachor. "This was a big win for us."

The Lady Longhorns came out in the second half a different team. They attacked the ball, controlled the rebounds and limited the Rattlers to six points in the third period.

"Coach told us at half time that we needed to play sound basketball," said Lady Longhorn senior Megan Frost. 

The Lady Longhorns edged the lead away from the Lady Rattlers midway through the final period and pressed to hold it.

The win pits the Lady Longhorns against the Elida Lady Tigers for the Route 66 championship.

"Elida has always been a tough team," Rachor said. "Our seniors really stepped up in this game and we'll try to carry the momentum of this game into the next."

Boys

With the crowd still pumped up from the girls game,  fans were in store for a change of pace as the Rattlers beat the Longhorns 61-55.

The Longhorns managed to stay within two points at the end of the first period trailing 19-17, though the second and third periods had the Longhorns on the end of a double digit deficit.

Despite being down by as much as 14 the Longhorns continued to work their way back into the game.

"They controlled the tempo of the game, and did not let our press phase them in the second half," said Rattlers head coach John Span.

With two minutes left in the game the Rattlers lost their third post man sophomore Jospeh Chavez to fouls. Senior Curtis Simpson and junior Alex Hutchins had fouled out earlier in the final period.

"They ran out of time, it might have gone a different way if there had been more time on the board," Span said. "We got into some big foul trouble and that left us hurting underneath the goal."

The Rattlers will now play the Fort Sumner Foxes for the tournament championship.

"Fort Sumner is a tough team," Span said. "They have a great inside-outside game and it is going to be a battle."

Day 3 Schedule

Girls

Championship

6 p.m. Elida vs Logan

Third Place

3 p.m. Tucumcari vs Fort Sumner

Consolation 

noon Portales jv vs Floyd

Seventh place

 9 a.m. Clovis C-team vs San Jon

Boys

Championship

7:30 p.m. Tucumcari vs Fort Sumner

Third place

4:30 p.m. Logan vs Floyd

Consolation

1:30 Elida vs San Jon

Seventh Place

Clovis C-team vs Monte Del Sol