Lady Rattlers advance to Elite Eight

It's road-trip time for the Lady Rattlers.

The fifth-seeded Tucumcari girls basketball team advanced to the Class 3A quarterfinals with a solid 54-32 victory over 12th-seeded Ruidoso in a first-round playoff game at Rattler Gymnasium.

In four games against their district foe, the Lady Rattlers' performance Friday was the most dominating of the lot. Tucumcari grabbed an early lead from the outset, never trailed and commanded a 20-point advantage by the third quarter.

Ruidoso ended its season with a 13-15 record, with four losses to Tucumcari.

Tucumcari (23-3) is scheduled to play fourth-seeded Santa Fe Indian (18-9) in the quarterfinals at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Rio Rancho Events Center. (The game was after the Quay County Sun's deadline.) Santa Fe Indian downed Newcomb 58-27 in its first-round game.

The Class 3A semifinals are set for 8:15 p.m. Thursday at Rio Rancho, with the championship at 3 p.m. Friday at The Pit in Albuquerque.

Sophomore center Kyla Lopez scored a game-high 19 points - mostly in the second half when the Lady Rattlers put some distance between themselves and the Warriors.

It was junior guard July Lafferty who played a key role in the first half, scoring nine of her 14 points. She scored five during an 11-1 run in the second quarter - including traditional three-point play - to give Tucumcari a double-digit lead.

"July just plays," THS coach Patrick Benavidez said. "If you're losing by 30 or if you're winning by 30, she's going to give you 100%. She just stepped up to be a great leader."

Tucumcari's non-starters again played a role in the first-half surge. With Lopez and senior defensive standout Haisley Huffman on the bench with two early fouls, seniors Kirksey Smith and Alexis Ramirez each scored five points in the half.

Benavidez gave the game ball to Ramirez after the contest.

"She steps in there and plays a lot of minutes," he said. "Sometimes she's inside post, sometimes she's guarding guards and forwards ... just all over the place. We talk about giving 100%, and that's what she does. And she made some clutch shots in the in the first half."

Lopez scored six points in the third quarter, and Lafferty and Caylee Benavidez each made 3-point shots to give their team a 43-22 lead.

Ruidoso at one point early in the fourth quarter reduced the gap to 15 points, but Tucumcari closed the game with 9-2 run. Lopez scored nine points during the period, many on fastbreaks.

"Tucumcari played really well," Ruidoso coach Billy Page said. "Really sharp, really crisp. We kept turning the ball over. We missed some shots that could have put us back in the game. And we just didn't execute as crisply as we had the last few games."

The Warriors also hurt themselves at the free-throw line, going just 6-for-18.

Friday's matchup was unlike the previous one, where more than 40 personal fouls were called.

"The refs were letting us play," coach Benavidez said. "They were knocking the heck out of us, and we knocked the heck out of them a couple times. But that's what we have to get prepared for. So I'm glad we had this kind of game with them."

After the game, Tucumcari's three seniors were seen crying amid hugs from parents and teammates over the prospect of their final home game.

"We've played together since we were little elementary-schoolers, and it's just hard," Ramirez said.

Ramirez said she also was grateful to her teammates helping give her additional confidence - and additional scoring - in recent weeks.

"Everybody on the team, they pick each other up and they make you believe in yourself," she said.

Benavidez said he was hopeful his team, which also advanced the quarterfinals last year, could use that tournament experience to fare well against Santa Fe Indian and possibly have a rematch in the semifinals against No. 1-seeded Tohatchi, the defending state champion.

"Now we're that team that has the experience," he said. "I've been scouting Santa Fe Indian the last couple of months, and we're looking forward to that game.

"These girls, they're not done. They don't want the next game to be the last game. They've played together so long, and they just have so much love for each other and just want to continue."