Serving the High Plains

Lady Rattlers take title

The Tucumcari girls basketball team breezed to the Lady Lions Basketball Classic tournament title by defeating host Santa Rosa 68-31 on Saturday.

The Lady Rattlers won the three tournament games by an average margin of 40 points. In each game, they raced to double-digit leads before their opponents scored.

Tucumcari's Ashley Shipley was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, and teammates Jasmine Jones, Kalani French and Aliyah Herrera were voted to the all-tournament team.

“I'm so very pleased with the way the whole team played this weekend; can't say enough about them,” Tucumcari coach Gary Hittson said. “We played good 'D,' ran our press really well, but we did get tired and had to pull out of the press. We are still not in great shape. We still need to work on offense; we're still not cutting to the basket. We need to cut down on turnovers.”

Tucumcari improved to 5-0 overall and is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by MaxPreps.com.

The Lady Rattlers jumped to 10-0 lead in the first quarter against Santa Rosa (3-2) and led 25-6 by the end of that quarter and 48-17 at intermission.

Jones and French each led Tucumcari with 22 points. Shipley added 12 points and Herrera scored 11.

Tucumcari 64, Newcomb 24

Tucumcari raced to a 22-0 lead in the first half en route to a 62-24 victory over Newcomb in the semifinals of the tournament Friday.

The Lady Rattlers led 35-11 at halftime over the Skyhawks (3-2).

Newcomb didn't score until early in thee second quarter.

Herrera led Tucumcari with 19 points. Shipley and French each added 14 points.

Tucumcari 72, McCurdy 29

The Lady Rattlers jumped out to a 27-0 lead in the first quarter en route to a 72-29 victory Thursday in the first game of the Santa Rosa tournament.

Tucumcari carried a 41-10 lead at halftime.

“We put the press on them, and that was it,” Hittson said.

Shipley led Tucumcari with 24 points, Herrera added 20, and French scored 16 in a game where Hittson emptied his bench early.

 
 
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