Bloomfield reaches long-awaited final, to face Los Lunas
They played in Bloomfield in November, in Tomè in December, and in Albuquerque in January.
Meeting No. 4 will be at Dreamstyle Arena on tonight, as No. 1 Los Lunas and No. 2 Bloomfield set up a championship game showdown with semifinal victories on Thursday at the Pit.
Tonight’s game tips off at 7:30. Los Lunas won the first two matchups, Bloomfield the most recent one.
No. 1 LOS LUNAS 57, No. 5 KIRTLAND CENTRAL 34:
According to Tigers coach Marty Zeller, his team began Thursday morning with a mindset rarely seen this season.
It was the Broncos (18-11) who had to suffer the consequences. Los Lunas (28-2) raced out to a 14-point first-quarter lead and was never threatened the rest of way as it advanced to the final for the second consecutive year.
“I think we came out with the best focus we’ve come out with all year long in the first quarter,” Zeller said. “Every single player on the floor had the right focus. We knew exactly what Kirtland Central was going to do. We know what their strength is. We know that their 2-3 zone is their bread and butter, and we came out with that focus and we hit the shots.”
The Tigers’ offense was certainly clicking as it led 23-9 after one and extended its advantage to 28-12 early in the second stanza. Senior Mica Jenrette helped Los Lunas begin to pull away with back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter. Jenrette and Marissa Weldon each finished with a game-high 10 points for the Tigers.
“We know we need to come with a great mindset,” Jenrette said. “We’ve done this before. That was our main focus. We don’t usually have strong starts. We knew if we wanted to play and get to the ’ship, we had to start strong.”
The Broncos would get to within 30-19 with 3:17 to go in the first half, but Los Lunas gradually
worked on expanding its lead from there. The Tigers led by 16 at halftime and increased the margin to 24 late in the third.
Los Lunas held Kirtland Central to 31 percent shooting (12-for39) for the game while forcing its opponent into 23 turnovers.
Overall, 10 players scored for the Tigers, and they appeared to wear down the Broncos by substituting in waves throughout the game.
— Tristen Critchfield
No. 2 BLOOMFIELD 59, No. 3 GALLUP 56: The Lady Bobcats (26-5) advanced to their first state final since 1984 with a stirring semifinal victory over the Bengals (20-11).
Bloomfield led by seven when the fourth quarter began, 47-40, and had to withstand several Gallup rallies in the final eight minutes.
After the Bengals’ Amanda Mitchel hit a 3 to cut the deficit to one at 47-46, Alyssa Quintana answered 12 seconds later with a 3. That was early in the quarter.
“She has ice in her veins,” Bloomfield coach Tom Adair said. “She’s a great shooter.”
Later, Gallup had two putback baskets to get within a point again at 52-51 with 2:00 to go. But Micaela Abeyta first, and then Brandi Alcantar, connected on four straight free throws for the Lady Bobcats to lead 56-51 with 44.4 seconds remaining.
“There were a couple of times I thought we could pull away,” Adair said, “but they made some things happen.”
Gallup’s comeback was slowed because of 10 fourth-quarter turnovers.
Halle Payne led Bloomfield with 13 points and eight rebounds. Alcantar added 10 points and seven assists. The Lady Bobcats led for almost the entire final three quarters.
Ashley Antone had a gamehigh 22 points and 15 rebounds for Gallup.