One last gasp for hoops’ regular season

With the prep basketball regular season in the rearview mirror, it’s time to focus on the district tournaments that begin Monday — wait a minute, the regular season isn’t completely over yet?

One district — 7-1A — pushed the regular season to Monday as last week’s snowstorms postponed a pair of boys games involving Santa Fe schools.

Santa Fe Waldorf could not reschedule its game against Coronado by Saturday, so the teams will play Monday in Gallina in a game that will determine whether the Wolves finish in third or fourth place in its district.

Meanwhile, New Mexico School for the Deaf will play Albuquerque Chesterton Academy in Larson Gym.

If Waldorf loses to Coronado, it will open the district tournament as the No. 4 seed and play in the opening round on Tuesday against Coronado.

The difference is the rematch will take place in Santa Fe’s Christian Life Academy. It will be one of three district first-round games to take place.

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It has not been the easiest of seasons for the Northern New Mexico College women’s basketball team. The Eagles struggled through a 4-16 season and a 1-6 mark in the Continental Athletic Conference, finishing with five available players on the roster.

Their reward came Friday when the team earned the No. 7 seed for the conference tournament, which begins Friday, Feb. 24, at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. Northern New Mexico will face Haskell in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m.

Northern New Mexico head coach J.R. Giddens tweeted photos of the players watching the tournament’s unveiling.

“I have so much respect for this Amazing group of young ladies,” he wrote. “We played vs 6 [NCAA Division II] & 3 D1 programs this season. Qualifying for the Conference Tournament with only 5 players making HISTORY!! We’re locked in & ready to make some more noise.”

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The Posa family wrestling legacy continued to add chapters to its story Saturday when sophomore Mason Posa, the son of 1990 Santa Fe High graduate Javier Posa, won his second state title for Albuquerque La Cueva by pinning Hobbs’ Rene Pages 40 seconds into the Class 5A 189-pound title match in the Rio Rancho Event Center.

Mason finished the season 31-1 and is just one state title away from matching his dad’s feat. Javier Posa, who is the Bears head coach, won the heavyweight division from 1988-90 and parlayed that into a solid collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned All-America honors during his time there.

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High school’s March Madness started last week with the end of the regular season. It starts this week for NCAA Division II, particularly the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

With two games left, the giant bottleneck that is the mid-level teams in the league will produce an extension for two teams and the end of the line for four others. That group includes the New Mexico Highlands men’s team, which enters the final week 10-16 overall and 8-12 in league play. The Cowboys are in a five-way tie for seventh place, one game ahead of Colorado State-Pueblo.

Only the top eight teams make the RMAC Championship field, which starts Feb. 28 with on-campus quarterfinal games for the top four seeds. The semifinals and championship game shift to one site March 3 and March 4.

The Cowboys are tied with UC-Colorado Springs, South Dakota Mines, Metro State and Regis, all at 8-12, each fighting for the last two spots. CSUPueblo is 7-13 and still very much alive. All six teams have two games remaining and of the five tied for seventh, only Highlands is at home to close things out.

Highlands hosts Regis (11-15, 8-12) on Friday at the Wilson Complex, then UCCS (14-13, 8-12) the following night. Saturday’s regular season finale is the annual Community Game where all fans are admitted free for the men’s and women’s doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.

Winning both doesn’t ensure a trip to the tournament, but it sure would make things easier considering one of Metro State’s games is at nationally ranked Fort Lewis and both of South Dakota Mines’ games are on the road.

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One of the headaches parents face during spring break is figuring out what to do with the kids for what amounts to nine straight days of no school.

The New Mexico United has your back.

The club is launching its Spring Break Kids Camp from March 21-23 at its training site at Mesa del Sol, south of the Sunport. It’s open for kids ages 6-12 regardless of skill level. It comes with the usual camp swag: A T-shirt and ticket to the team’s opening match April 15.

The camp focuses on the basics, ranging from small group exercises to small-sided games. The registration fee is $182.10. Camps are divided into three days from 2 to 4 p.m. each afternoon.

For more information, visit newmexicoutd.cinchhq.com/ programs/5462.