Lady Rattlers face a tough early test

Tucumcari will have an early measuring stick on how good its girls basketball team is when its hosts (Las Vegas) Robertson in its season opener on Thursday.

The perennially tough Cardinals have defeated the Lady Rattlers by an average of more than 30 points the last three seasons.

But THS coach Patrick Benavidez thinks his team has a good opportunity for payback.

"They've had our number the last few years," he said. "Their being physical really wore us down in the second half. This year, I think we can get them. It might be a preview of a state tournament game."

After Robertson, the Lady Rattlers travel to defending Class 2A champion Texico on Dec. 5.

"The first two games are going to be a challenge, but I think we'll be up for it," Benavidez said. "We'll be able to measure what we can do against good teams."

Aside from one significant loss to graduation (more on that later), Tucumcari returns 11 varsity players from a team that went 20-7 and won the district title. That includes junior co-captain Caylee Benavidez (11.0 points per game), junior July Lafferty (7.9 ppg), sophomore Kyla Lopez (7.2 ppg), freshman Cambree Benavidez (8.7 ppg) and senior co-captain Haisley Huffman (1.8 ppg).

The Lady Rattlers also gain senior forward Kirksey Smith, who sat out last season due to foot surgery.

The coach said another advantage his team has is experience.

"We're junior- and senior-heavy. The big part of our success is we're not the young ones anymore," he said.

Benavidez, in his third year as varsity coach after a long tenure as an assistant, said his team will use its transition game a lot, with a motion-style offense in the halfcourt.

"They've been running my system for eight years now," he said. "They know each other and feed off each other. Whatever the defense gives us, they take advantage. They get a lot of open shots, and we're working on finishing."

Tucumcari's deep bench will allow it to use its press defense more. They'll need those breaks; many of the Lady Rattlers in practice last week were just a few days removed from volleyball season.

"They have a lot of volleyball legs, but they stayed in good shape through volleyball season. I think we'll be OK ... just getting our wind," he said.

The big graduation loss from last season was point guard Alexus Lafferty, who led the team with 15.1 points per game and 72 3-point shots.

Coach Benavidez said co-captain July Lafferty will be the primary ball-handler this season, though her teammates will share those duties.

"On offense, we really don't have a point guard," he said. "Everybody can handle the ball pretty well. I think it's gotten us in trouble in the past, having just one primary point guard and getting double-teamed."

Benavidez also said the emphasis on 3-point shots also hurt the Lady Rattlers during the postseason.

"Hopefully, we're not going to rely on the (3-pointer) so much," he said. "We get to the state tournament, and we seem to go cold from the 3-point line. We're going to build on what we saw from last year.

"We have some big goals in mind to get us further into state and, hopefully, to the championship game. I think we can compete with every team in Class 3A."

In district play, he was less certain which teams would be contenders. He said Ruidoso, Dexter and New Mexico Military Institute all underwent coaching changes.

After an undefeated run through its district schedule last season, it's safe to say Tucumcari should contend for another title.

Caylee Benavidez, present with her co-captains during the interview with her father-coach, added: "We have a bunch of good girls this year. We're going to be good."

Other teams

The Logan girls basketball team will begin its season Thursday against Whitharral, Texas, at the Dora Tournament. Its first home game will be against San Jon on Dec. 9.

San Jon will open its season on Dec. 1 with a road game at Santa Rosa. Its first home game will be on Dec. 5 against Dora.