The All-District Teams for the basketball season were announced recently, and several Valencia County players were recognized.

Valencia girls

Two Valencia Lady Jaguars players were named to the District 5-4A All-District team.

Azalia Malizia was named to the first team, while teammate Jadyn Montoya was named to the second team.

Malizia averaged 9.5 points per game during the regular season, the fourth most in the district this past season. Malizia also led the district in steals per game, averaging 2.8 per game. Her biggest game of the season was against Espanola Valley, where she scored 18 points and had four steals.

Montoya also averaged 9.5 points per game during the regular season. Montoya also led the district with overall steals, collecting 73 during her 26 games played. Her biggest night came against Valley, where she scored 28 points, six assists and 6 steals.

Adam Evarts | News-Bulletin photo
Jadyn Montoya (2) was named to the all-district second team for District 5-4A

Los Lunas girls

Four Los Lunas High School players were named to the District 5-5A All-District teams.

Klarissa Hall and Tayden Hanks were named to the first team. Sadie Ortega was named to the second team, while Adri Gaerlan was named to the honorable mention team.

Hall, the lone senior on the LLHS squad, proved to be a steady and consistent player, while battling injuries much of the season. One of Hall’s biggest performances of the season came in a win over Manzano at home, where she came away with five of the team’s 17 steals. Hall also scored 6 points in a win over Capital, and 9 points in a win over Rio Grande.

Hanks was a consistent player, and one of the Lady Tigers’ leaders during the season. One of her biggest performances of the season came against Capital late in the season, where she scored 23 points in a 56-44 Los Lunas victory.

Ortega was a major threat from the three-point territory, knocking down five of them in a contest against Hope JV earlier this season, in a 15-point performance. She also had 8 points in a game against Alamogordo earlier in the season.

Gaerlan also proved to be a steady player this season for the Lady Tigers. One of her biggest nights came late in the season when she scored a game high 13 points in a 55-10 win over Rio Grande. She also had 12 points in a win over Hope JV earlier in the season.

Belen girls

In Belen, the Lady Eagles had two players named to the District 5-4A All-District teams.

Maesyn Lopez was named to the first team all-district team, while Aleigha Wright was named to the second team.

Lopez was a very consistent player throughout the season, averaging 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. She led the district in the r

ebounds category. Her biggest game of the season came against Bloomfield back in December, where she scored 23 points and had 12 rebounds.

Wright led the way for the Lady Eagles during their only win of the season. She scored 12 points and had three rebounds in Belen’s 51-40 victory over Cobre back in December. She averaged three rebounds per game, which was good enough for 12th in district play.

Los Lunas boys

The Los Lunas Tigers saw four of its players named to the Distrct 5-5A All-District teams for this season.

Jalin Holland was named the 2021-22 District Player of the Year, while also being named to the first team. Joining him on the first team is Ezra Guest. Jamian Perez was named to the second team, while Hadley Beaty was named to the honorable mention team.

Holland led the Tigers to an 18-8 regular season, and a perfect 10-0 district record. Holland saved one of his better performances of the season for the district clinching win over Rio Grande with 32 points and 11 rebounds in the 75-58 win.

Guest led the district in assists, and would knock down the game winning shot against Albuquerque High at LLHS during the season.

Perez missed much of the out-of-district portion of the schedule with an ankle injury, but once he returned, he was a huge part of the Tigers success. Perez torched Santa Fe in the District 5-5A Tournament Championship game with 35 points.

Beaty became a force both in the paint and on the perimeter. His three pointer late in the 3rd quarter during the Tigers regular season, 58-53, win over Santa Fe was one of the turning points of the game. Beaty also has a 4.2 GPA to boot.

Adam Evarts | News-Bulletin photo
Belen’s Maesyn Lopez and Valencia’s Azalia Mazilia were both named to the all-district first team for this season.

Belen boys

The Belen Eagles had three players named to the District 5-4A All-District teams.

Daniel Corrales was named to the first team, while Brody Jaquez and Jordi Rojo were both named to the second team.

Corrales averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds a game this season for the Eagles, good enough for second in the district in each category. He also had 48 steals on the season, good enough for second in district. His biggest night came against Albuquerque Academy, when he racked up 23 points and 20 rebounds in a 59-50 Belen win.

Jaquez averaged 9.4 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game. He also recorded 27 steals on the season, good enough for sixth in district. His biggest night came on the road against Valencia. After Corrales went down with a knee injury in the first quarter, Jaquez led the Eagles with his 16 points to a 54-52 victory.

Rojo averaged 7.6 points a game on the season. He also hit 31 three-point field goals on the year, placing him in third in district in the category, while his 50 steals on the season were tops in the district. His three-pointer with two seconds left carried the Eagles by Bernalillo in the opening round of the Stu Clark Invitational. The Eagles would go on to win the tournament championship.

Valencia boys

The Valencia Jaguars landed two players on the District 5-4A All-District teams.

Ali Abdullah was named to the first team, while Damian Estrada was named to the second team.

Abdullah averaged 11.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in district play. His biggest game of the season came in a win over Grants late in the season, where he scored 22 points and had 14 rebounds.

Estrada became a starter in January, and averaged 10 points and 6.5 rebounds per game during the district slate. He had 15 points in a win over Bloomfield right before district play began. He also scored 18 points in a game against Belen late in the season.

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Adam Evarts is a graduate of the University of New Mexico where he studied journalism and history. He has lived in Valencia County most of his life. Adam covers sports for the Valencia County News-Bulletin, including prep competitions for the three local high schools, Senior Olympics, rodeo, Little League and more.