Playoff games for some, not for others
St. Pius girls lock up District 5-4A
There will be a playoff game in District 5-5A boys basketball.
There won’t be one in District 5-4A girls.
Nor will there be one in District 5-3A boys.
And there almost certainly won’t be one in District 2-5A girls, either.
The penultimate night of the 2022-23 prep basketball season saw a flurry of activity across the state on Friday night, with a handful of metro-area teams among those in the mix for a regular-season district championship.
Rio Grande, Los Lunas and Santa Fe’s boys finished in a three-way tie for first place in 5-5A, each with 7-3 records, but it’s the Ravens and Tigers, through the district points tiebreaker, who will meet in a playoff game early next week to determine the top seed for the district tournament.
Where and when that game will occur was not immediately known as of 10 p.m. Friday. Santa Fe (16-10) edged visiting Rio Grande (15-10) 46-44 on Friday night, while Los Lunas (20-6) rolled against Albuquerque High, creating the three-way deadlock.
The Ravens just beat the Tigers 64-46 earlier this week.
At Highland, the St. Pius girls clinched the District 5-4A regular-season championship in extremely dramatic fashion, beating the Hornets 54-51 in double overtime.
Highland’s Aaliyah Nevarez buried a 28-footer near the end of regulation to force overtime, and the Hornets’ Vania Limas scored on a buzzer-beating driving layup to end the first OT to extend the game some more, tied at 47-all.
But St. Pius (19-5, 8-0) scored the first six points of the second OT to finally put Highland (14-12, 6-2) away. The Hornets had to win to force a playoff against the Sartans.
In Farmington, the Scorpions, ranked No. 2 in Class 5A girls basketball, defeated No. 5-ranked La Cueva 55-40 on Friday night in a first-place showdown in District 2-5A.
Farmington (22-2 overall, 8-1) leads La Cueva (18-7, 7-2) by one game headed into Saturday’s final day of the season.
The Scorpions need only to defeat Piedra Vista on Saturday night to win the district title outright, and Farmington beat the Panthers by 47 points in their first meeting. The Bears are at Eldorado on Saturday afternoon to close out the regular season.
Sandia’s 72-31 boys victory Friday night over Piedra Vista ensures that the Matadors (21-5, 8-2) and West Mesa (20-6, 8-2) will meet in a 2-5A playoff. The game is set for 6 p.m. Monday at La Cueva.
From District 5-3A, Sandia Prep’s boys won Friday at Bosque School, 80-66, to clinch the regular season crown.
NOTE: In Class 4A boys Friday night, Gene Trujillo’s layup with 5 seconds left capped a wild final four minutes, as No. 4-ranked St. Pius upended No. 2 Highland, 53-52, in a District 5-4A finale.
There were seven lead changes in the final four minutes as the Sartans (168, 6-2) avenged a 1-point loss at Highland (19-7, 7-1) earlier in district. St. Pius trailed Highland by nine points when the fourth quarter began Friday.
The Hornets had already clinched the 5-A title, earlier this week with a double-OT win against Valencia.
District tournaments begin on Monday around the state.