Drake takes Lady Sundevils from winless to state title contenders

ESPAñOLA — Lady Sundevils head basketball coach Ron Drake is willing to go plenty of extra miles to build a winner. Drake, who lives in Sandia Park east of Albuquerque, travels 170 miles every day to and from Española. It's a tough commute, but one that has produced a big winner for fans in the basketball hotbed that is Española Valley. Drake took over a program that went 0-27 in 2006-07 and in three years has put together what ranks as one of the best ever turnarounds in girls basketb ...

Live blog basketball action begins Tuesday at 8 a.m.

The New Mexican sports team will be live blogging from the state basketball tournament beginning 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.Santafenewmexican.com is also hosting a special site for tournament news, talk and fun.Click on the "video" tab (Web users) above the live blog to watch The New Mexican's sportswriters Feb. 28, 2010 radio show previewing this year's tournament.Visit out photo store to see images from the tournament. ...

RMAC BASEBALL: 'Outworked' Cowboys have to live with split

Win. Lose. Win. Lose. So, was the New Mexico Highlands University baseball series half full, or half empty after splitting four games with Mesa State College at Brandt Field in Las Vegas? The full? The Cowboys won two of three of the games that were of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference variety. The empty? That feeling could come much later, when the regional rankings are released in April. The Mavericks took Sunday's finale 12-8. That came one day after ha ...

Sports in brief, March 7, 2010

Santa Fe teen skier captures Taos gold Jackson Buscher of Santa Fe captured gold at the USASA Slopestyle contest in Taos on Saturday. Buscher, competing in the 13-15 age division, earned a trip to April's nationals with the victory. The national competition for the United States of America Snowboard Association takes place at Copper Mountain in Colorado. Buscher, a skier, is coming off a national runner-up finish in downhill mountain biking that took place over the summer. Hi ...

Kirk, Los Alamos earn another shot at victory in The Pit

LOS ALAMOS — He will no doubt collect plenty of wins in The Pit — that happens when you commit to a top 10 college basketball program, such as The University of New Mexico — but Alex Kirk wants victories inside that famous venue wearing the green and gold of Los Alamos High School. Kirk and the Hilltoppers will have that chance after zipping around and past Piedra Vista on Saturday in the first round of the Class AAAA Boys State Basketball Championships. Sixth-seeded Los Alamos counte ...

Tragedy shadows Santa Fe Indian School win

A state tournament basketball game was the reason roughly 900 fans showed up to Francis L. Abeyta Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday night. But it was a tragedy that brought them all together. Deshauna Peshlakai, a 17-year-old senior on the Newcomb girls basketball team, and her older sister Del Lynn, 19, were killed in a car crash on Cerrillos Road on Friday night shortly after leaving a state tournament loss to the SFIS Lady Braves. Their parents, Darlene and David, were both still hosp ...

St. Michael's boys hold off Portales

At points Saturday night, it might've appeared to the throngs of St. Michael's fans packed into Perez-Shelley Gymnasium that Portales guard David Carrasco's No. 5 was actually an S — as in Superman. Carrasco scored a game-high 24 points, including eight in the third to will his Rams into the Class AAA Boys State Basketball Championships. But the fifth-seeded Horsemen were able to clamp down on the senior in the fourth quarter with a superb defensive effort to outlast Portales 46-43 an ...

Freshman, senior power Capital boys to upset on road

SANTA TERESA — Mikey Lopez and Isaiah Bustmante: Capital High School's Alpha and Omega. The Jaguars' beginning and end. Saturday night in the visitor's locker room at Santa Teresa, Lopez wore a precocious smile as he took in just his third varsity game this season as a freshman and his first taste of state tournament experience. The future for him is Wednesday, where the 12th-seeded Jaguars will play in a Class AAAA state boys basketball quarterfinal in The Pit after a 52-41 win over ...

Senior snaps out of slump at the buzzer to lift Pojoaque boys

JACONA — It was fitting that Pojoaque Valley senior Tom Nakotte made his final jumper, because he couldn't hit one the rest of the night. His deep 3-pointer at the buzzer Saturday gave the No. 7 Elks a 53-50 victory over No. 10 Wingate in the opening round of the Class AAA Boys State Basketball Championships. "I finally hit a shot," Nakotte said. "I didn't make anything before that." The final play, which Pojoaque head coach Joey Trujillo drew up during a timeout with 6.1 seconds ...

Boys basketball roundup: Mesa Vista sinks 3-pointers, and Escalante

To be, or not to be. Shakespeare To three, or not to three. Trojanspeare The Trojans of Mesa Vista High School were not looking to partake in a 3-for-all Saturday in Ojo Caliente, one of eight home-court sites for opening night of the Class AA Boys State Basketball Championships. The Lobos of Escalante were. "We took what they gave us," Thomas Vigil, Mesa Vista head coach, said. The Lobos gave the Trojans the 3-point arc. The Trojans gave the Lobos an outside s ...

Get tournament updates on today's live blog

The New Mexican's sports team will be live blogging from tonight's state basketball tournament games starting at 5 p.m. Santafenewmexican.com is also hosting a special site for tournament news, talk and fun.Click on the "video" tab (Web users) above the live blog to watch The New Mexican's sportswriters Feb. 28, 2010 radio show previewing this year's tournament.Visit out photo store to see images from the tournament. We're featuring images from Friday's Lady Braves game. You can buy your favorit ...

• + Related: Boys: Waldorf made quick strides on way to Class A state tournament
• + Related: Class AAAA Girls State Tournament: Capital faces former head coach, Volcano Vista in the opener
• + Related: Surprise family visit leads Lady Braves junior to career night in AAA win
• + Related: Class AAA girls state tournament: Pojoaque Valley uses quickness, defense to take down Ruidoso
• + Related: Class AAAA girls state tournament: Los Alamos advances to meet Española Valley
• + Related: Class AAAA state tournament: Lady Hawks down undermanned Capital
• + Related: State tournament roundup: Lady Horsemen rout Socorro in AAA opener
• + Related: RMAC baseball: Highlands rallies past Mesa State
• + Related: Local sports in brief March 6

Surprise family visit leads Lady Braves junior to career night in AAA win

Cindy Roybal just might be on the phone with Greyhound right now. Immediately after hammering out the details of her team's transportation to The Pit for Tuesday's Class AAA quarterfinals, Roybal, the Santa Fe Indian School girls basketball coach, would be wise to find a way to charter a bus from the Jemez Pueblo to Albuquerque. The Lady Braves, seeded No. 2 in the Class AAA state tournament, knocked off No. 15 Newcomb 64-43 Friday night in Francis L. Abeyta Memorial Gymnasium, thanks ...

Class AAA girls state tournament: Pojoaque Valley uses quickness, defense to take down Ruidoso

JACONA — Eight days is a long time to think about three straight losses, especially when you are the two-time defending state champions. "We just let everything go," said Pojoaque Valley senior guard Dionna Montoya. "It's the past. It happened. Just focus on the next, always the next game." Montoya's performance Friday night, and that of her fellow Elkettes, left little doubt that Pojoaque Valley was a few exits past their recent struggles. The Elkettes used their defense and sup ...

Class AAAA girls state tournament: Los Alamos advances to meet Española Valley

LOS ALAMOS — Tarah Logan was dying to tell the town's worst-kept secret — worst-kept because the scoreboard already told it. With 3.6 seconds left Friday, Logan whispered to her injured senior forward, Sarah Worland, the words she and her entire Los Alamos Lady Hilltoppers team were dying to hear. "Hey, we're going to The Pit," Logan told her. The excitement finally couldn't be contained as Tyree Richins knocked down two free throws to complete a 63-56 win over Albuquerque St. Pi ...

Class AAAA state tournament: Lady Hawks down undermanned Capital

ALBUQUERQUE — It's been a rough week for the Capital High girls basketball team. In what should have been a fun time of preparation for the Class AAAA state basketball playoffs, the Lady Jaguars instead had to deal with the departure of two key players who were unavailable for Friday's tournament opener at Albuquerque Volcano Vista. Playing shorthanded, No. 11-seeded Capital lost to the sixth-seeded Lady Hawks 59-39. "Just choices," Jaguars head coach Ray Henderson said of the rea ...

State tournament roundup: Lady Horsemen rout Socorro in AAA opener

Mary had her little lambs. Roxanne Silva had big, bad Lady Horsemen. St. Michael's High School put a human bookend around Silva, the centerpiece of Socorro's offense Friday night. And while Silva finished with 30 points, she had just eight in a first half that ended 28-14 in favor of the Lady Horsemen. St. Michael's completed the rout 58-38, eliminating the Lady Warriors from the Class AAA Girls State Basketball Tournament on opening night. "I suspected we could cause them so ...

RMAC baseball: Highlands rallies past Mesa State

For three innings, New Mexico Highlands University played Mesa State on Friday at Brandt Park in Las Vegas, N.M. For six innings, the Cowboys played baseball. "Mesa's won this thing four, five years in a row. They've got a swagger to them and rightfully so," Steve Jones, Highlands head coach, said. "We came out a little tentative early on." It showed. The Mavericks parlayed three Highlands errors into a 3-0 head start. "With our club, we need to come out and stay aggressive a ...

Local sports in brief March 6

Highlands wins in RMAC semifinals Chop Tang and Roman Andrade combined for 43 points to lift New Mexico Highlands to a 96-64 victory over Colorado Christian in the semifinals of the RMAC Shootout men's basketball tournament Friday night at the Colorado State Fair Events Center in Pueblo. Highlands (20-9) faces Metro State (23-6) for the championship at 5 tonight. The Cowboys are in their first Shootout final in school history. The Roadrunners are defending champions. "This is a g ...