Academy’s win represents the Long and short of it
Charger girls, 11-4, capture Sundevil Invite, rout Sartans
Albuquerque Academy’s girls basketball program is not one that usually drives a conversation.
But the Chargers are doing what they can this season to change that.
“They’re not used to winning,” Academy coach Taryn Bachis said.
With senior post Sophie Long — possibly the metro area’s most underrated player — doing her thing, Academy rolled visiting St. Pius 51-30 on Thursday night in the championship game of the Sundevil Invitational.
The Chargers (11-4) are enjoying one of their best seasons in years.
“I think with a lot of teams, there is a lot of drama and tension, and we really don’t have that,” said Long. “Even at practice, every day there is a great attitude and a great atmosphere.”
The 6-foot-1 Long had a fairly effortless-looking 24 points — which included a pair of 3-pointers — and nine rebounds as the Chargers whipped their longtime rivals.
With Sandia Prep’s tournament delayed by weather last Friday, and since the Sartans and Academy already had a game scheduled Thursday, they played this as the tournament final.
The Chargers dominated in nearly every area, although the game was tied four times early.
Academy guard Andrea Park hit a late 3 for a 12-9 lead in the first quarter. At 13-11, St. Pius went five minutes without a point. The Chargers went on a 12-0 run during that drought and essentially put the game away right there. Long and Park both drained 3s in that run — Park’s off the glass.
One of Long’s two 3s also was banked in; it was that kind of night for the Chargers, who were both lucky and good. This was especially true in the first half, when Academy turned St. Pius over 11 times and didn’t commit a turnover itself until the final 10 seconds of the half.
The Chargers led 32-19 at intermission. Park added 11 points, including three 3s.
“What has happened,” Bachis said, “is that in games we’ve lost, people have keyed to much on Sophie, that nobody else would shoot.”
After an 8-0 start, St. Pius (10-4) has dropped four of its last six. — James Yodice VOLCANO VISTA 59, RIO GRANDE 32: At Rio Grande, Melissa Mancha had five 3s and a gamebest 20 points for the Hawks.
CIBOLA 41, LA CUEVA 33: The Cougars picked up one of their best wins of the season as Tiana Guillory led Cibola with a dozen points.
Boys
VALLEY 58, LOS LUNAS 49: In Los Lunas, the Vikings handed the Tigers their second loss in a row by clamping down on defense at key moments of the second half.
Junior Anthony Chavez scored nearly half of his game-high 22 points in the pivotal third quarter as Valley (8-6) outscored Los Lunas 20-9 to take control of the game.
Trailing 41-36, the Tigers (12-3) opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 43-43 with 6:31 left in regulation. But Los Lunas would only scored two more field goals the rest of the way as Valley kept the Tigers in check.
— Kenn Rodriguez CLEVELAND 82, SANDIA 61: At Cleveland, 11 Storm players scored, led by Aamer Muhammad’s 19.
ELDORADO 45, WEST MESA 44: At West Mesa, the Eagles held off the scrappy Mustangs as Eldorado bounced back from its triple-overtime loss two nights earlier to Cleveland.
RIO RANCHO 69, RIO GRANDE 50: At Rio Rancho, senior guard Juan Hurt scored 20 points and junior forward Joe Elmalhy 18 for the Rams (12-5).