Saturday, November 29, 2008

Lady Eagles barely edge 5A visitors in opener

BHS girls travel to Bernalillo on Tues.

Jason W. Brooks News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jbrooks@news-bulletin.com

Belen One down, six to go. If only it were that simple.

The Belen girls basketball team has seven Class 5A opponents on its schedule this season, and the Class 4A Lady Eagles got off to a good start by beating the first one in Tuesday's season opener against 5A Manzano. Though the Eagles nearly squandered a 10-point halftime lead, Belen (1-0) held on for a 51-50 victory.

"It was up-tempo, at least on our part," said BHS coach Danny Griego about the season opener. "It was a really physical game."

Nicolle Sanchez led the Eagles with 18 points, while Nicole Carbajal added 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles were outscored by the Lady Monarchs (1-1) in every quarter except the second, when they surged to take a 29-19 halftime lead.

Griego said Manzano has a very tall lineup, with a center that goes about 6-feet, 2-inches. He was particularly impressed with the physical play of wing Ashley Clevenger. It was the Monarchs' second game in as many nights, having beaten one of Belen's District 6-4A rivals, Volcano Vista, 52-41 on Monday at Manzano.

Franchesca Stark added six points and six steals in the contest, and Casey Stambaugh had nine points despite missing much of the second half with an ankle injury.

The Eagles, who also won their 2007-08 season opener by a single point when they beat Sandia Prep, are idle until Tuesday when they play at Bernalillo.

The Lady Spartans didn't pose much of a challenge to BHS last season, and Griego said Bernalillo is a team "We can take care of."

Thursday, however, the Eagles will need to be in top form when the perennially tough 5A Rio Rancho Lady Rams come to BHS.

Both of next week's games are set for approximately 7 p.m..

Rio Rancho was the No. 3 seed in last season's Class 5A state tournament, reaching the semifinals before losing to eventual state champion Eldorado.

"We scrimmaged them recently, and I didn't want to show all my cards," said Griego regarding Rio Rancho. "They have about 10 girls they can throw in there any time without missing a beat."

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version