San Jon, Logan, Tucumcari set to compete in district basketball tournaments

By Thomas Garcia

QCS Senior Writer

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Four Quay County high school basketball teams continue their push in the district tournaments, two playing today to advance to the next round, two playing Friday for district championships.

The San Jon Coyotes (11-7, 7-3) will play the Floyd Broncos (14-11, 7-3) today at 6 p.m. at San Jon.

The winner will advance to play the winner of the Melrose (20-6, 10-0) vs Grady (11-15, 4-6) game for the District 4-1A championship on Saturday.

Game time: 6 p.m. today at San Jon

The Logan Longhorns (8-16, 1-5) will play against the Dora Coyotes (19-7, 4-2) at 6 p.m. today at Dora.

The winner will advance to play the Fort Sumner/House Foxes (21-3, 6-0) for the District 6-2A championship on Saturday at Fort Sumner.

The Longhorns beat Mountainair 53-48 Tuesday at Logan in the first round of the tournament.

Game time: 6 p.m. today at Dora

The Tucumcari Lady Rattlers have advanced to the District 5-3A championship game against the Texico Lady Wolverines.

The Lady Rattlers (19-6, 5-2) take on the Lady Wolverines (19-6, 6-0) at 6 p.m. Friday at Texico.

On Wednesday, the Lady Rattlers advanced to the championship game with a 75-34 win against the Santa Rosa Lady Lions (11-5, 2-6) at the Snake Pit.

"We need to carry this momentum with us into Friday's game at Texico," said Gary Hittson, Lady Rattlers head coach.

Four members of the Lady Rattlers scored double digits Wednesday against the Lady Lions.

Kalani French, 18 points; Ashley Shipley, 17 points; Kaycee Lease, 15 points and Alyssa Martinez, 12 points.

Shipley said the team will need to keep the ball moving on offense to spread the floor. She said the team has multiple scoring threats from the outside and inside.

Hittson said the girls played their strongest game to date against Santa Rosa. He said the team pushed the pace for all four periods.

"We have to keep playing our game at our speed," Martinez said.

Lease said the team did a great job of pressuring the Lady Lions offense. She said against Texico, the Lady Rattlers need to keep pressing the Lady Wolverines to force turnovers.

The Lady Rattlers defense held the Lady Lions offense to four points in the first period and 12 points total in the first half.

Hittson said the Lady Rattlers exercised control while pressuring the Lady Lions. He said the team avoided needless fouls and limited Santa Rosa to eight free throws during the game.

"We need to be aggressive but focused at the same time," French said. "We can't afford to give them open shots or give them chances to score with the clock stopped."

Game time: 6 p.m. Friday at Texico

The Logan Lady Longhorns will play the Fort Sumner/House Vixens Friday for the District 6-2A championship at Logan.

The Lady Longhorns (20-5, 5-2) earned the top seed in the district on Saturday with a 43-38 playoff win against the Vixens (17-9, 5-3) at Melrose.

The Vixens advanced to the championship with 52-39 win Wednesday against the Dora Lady Coyotes at Fort Sumner.

Game time: 6 p.m. Friday at Logan.

The Tucumcari Rattlers (8-16, 1-6) lost 58-51 to the Clayton Yellowjackets (12-13, 2-5) Tuesday in the first round of the District 5-3A tournament at the Snake Pit.

The Rattlers now await the results of the 3A state seeding on Sunday.