Local wrestlers and ballers continue regular season

Wrestling

For the Belen boys wrestling team, the trip to Miyamura for the “Battle for Honor” duals proved to be a very successful one.

The Eagles won all five of their match-ups during the  duals over the weekend, defeating Albuquerque Academy, Grants, Capital, Miyamura and Window Rock, Ariz.

Belen will look to continue its hot start to the season when they take part in the Roswell Duals on Saturday, Dec. 18.

The Belen girls team went winless as a team at the duals in three meetings; however, Andie Saiz defeated Kaila Houck from Valencia High School in their match.

The Valencia Jaguars girls wrestling team was at the “Battle for Honor” duals as well, splitting their six meetings. The wins as a team came over Belen, Grants and Window Rock.

Katie Booth took home wins in all six of her match-ups for Valencia during the duals. The Valencia girls and boys will be in action at the Tucumcari Invite on Saturday, Dec. 18.

The Los Lunas Tigers boys wrestling lost at home this past week to Atrisco Heritage by a final of 46-16.

Key wins during the meet for LLHS included Naithan Gurule winning his 152-pound match against Exavier Gutierrez by a 10-2 major decision.

Tiger Ryan Vega defeated Dante Wilcox in 28 seconds to win the 285-pound bout, while Noah Gurule took care of Estevan Gomez by a 6-0 decision in the 113-pound category.

The Los Lunas girls wrestling team scored the win over Atrisco Heritage, with Kiya Padilla scoring the win with a pin in 22 seconds in the lone girls match of the night.

The Los Lunas boys team will be at the Tucumcari Invite on Saturday, Dec. 18, while the girls team will be in Roswell for the Coyote Invite the same day.

Basketball

The Belen boys basketball team finished fourth in their own Hub City Tournament over the weekend.

The tournament started off well for the Eagles as they defeated the Belen junior varsity team on Thursday by a final of 73-30. The next two games did not go to plan for Belen.

On Friday, the Valley Vikings frustrated the Eagles during their contest in which the Vikings won 48-32.

After leading Valley 14-11 at the end of the first quarter, Belen was held scoreless in the second quarter due to the Vikings playing keep away without having to worry about a shot clock.

That strategy came in handy in the third quarter as well as Valley hit their shots and Belen did not.

On Saturday, a defensive battle took place with the Eagles and Centennial during the third place contest as the visitors from Centennial took home a 35-32 win.

Following the tournament the Eagles are 5-4 on the season and will be on the road Thursday taking on Del Norte.

The Los Lunas Tigers boys team lost at Atrisco Heritage last week by a final of 58-50.

That loss dropped the Tigers to a record of 3-4 on the season.

This week will be a busy one for the Tigers as they will host both Las Cruces and Valencia this week at LLHS. The contest with Valencia will be at 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 17.

The Jaguars went 1-2 during last week’s action, bringing their record to 3-5 on the season.

The Jaguars defeated Robertson last week by a final of 59-49, before falling to Los Alamos and Artesia.

It won’t get any easier for the Jags as they will pay a visit to 8-1 Espanola Valley this week. They will then visit Los Lunas on Friday night and host Goddard on Saturday afternoon.

On the girls side of basketball, the season has not gone the way Los Lunas is used to, and this past week continued the tough start for the Lady Tigers.

Los Lunas lost to Bloomfield by a final of 48-37 this past week, falling to 0-6 on the season.

The Lady Tigers will look for win No. 1 when they host the defending 5A State Champions in Volcano Vista at 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 18.

The Valencia Lady Jaguars split their contests last week against Los Alamos and Miyamura.

Against Los Alamos, the Lady Jaguars used a strong fourth quarter to get by the Lady Hilltoppers.

Leading 18-17 heading into the final eight minutes, the Lady Jags outscored Los Alamos, 12-6, to come away with a 30-23 victory.

A couple of nights later, the Lady Jaguars came up short against Miyamura, falling 36-34 in that bout.

Valencia is now 3-4 on the season, and will host Espanola Valley before paying Del Norte a visit this week.

The Belen Lady Eagles took a couple more lumps last week, losing to both Moriarty and Robertson. Following those contests Belen is now 1-5 on the season.

This week will be a busy one for the Lady Eagles as they will have three contests to see if they can get back into the win column. First up is a visit from Pojoaque Valley before road games against Valley and Los Alamos at the end of the week.