Prep roundup: Winter break hoops action

There was plenty of hoops action over the holiday season as Valencia County teams prepare for the start of district play later this month. Here’s a look at how the girls teams fared in that stretch.

Valencia

The Valencia girls kicked off winter break with a trip to Albuquerque to take on Valley.

The Vikings had already defeated Belen earlier in the season, and they doubled up on victories over county teams with a 61-45 win over the Jaguars.

The game was tight in the first half with VHS matching them much of the way.

After the first quarter, the Vikings led 12-11. In the second quarter, the Vikings began to separate themselves thanks to impressive fastbreak play and forcing the Jaguars into more mistakes.

The Vikings were led by Shaela Carillo, who finished with 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting.

On Thursday, Dec. 26, the Jaguars traveled south to Alamogordo to participate in the Kiwanis Invitational.

VHS started the tournament off on a positive note, with a narrow win over the Clovis Wildcats, 37-36.

Both teams struggled from the floor, hence the low final score.

The big difference was Valencia beimg able to hit from beyond the three-point line at a 25 percent clip, contrasted with the Wildcats, who failed to connect on a single three pointer according to Hudl stats available on MaxPreps.

The win set up a second matchup of the season with the hosts. VHS fell to the Tigers 59-27 in the season opener.

In the second bout, it was the Tigers again who came out on top, 48-32. Pushed to the consolation bracket, VHS finished out the tournament with a 49-31 loss to Silver and dropped to 3-10 on the season in the final game of 2019.

Valencia already has two games under their belt in the new year, with a 62-38 loss to Bloomfield on January 3 and a 46-41 loss to Tohatchi the following day.

The team is off until Tuesday, Jan. 14 when it returns to action hosting Del Norte.

VHS has only played three home games so far this season and has put plenty of miles on the bus traveling all over the state.

Relief from such a brutal travel schedule comes now in the second half of the season, as only four road games remain in front of VHS and only two of those will take them out of the county.

Belen

Belen’s girls team continues to struggle and is still looking for its first win of the season after dropping to 0-13.

The Eagles have also spent plenty of time on the road early in the year and began their holiday travels with a trip to Socorro on Thursday, Dec. 19.

The Warriors took care of BHS 39-31, the closest margin of the season to that point.

After the holidays, BHS traveled to Roswell to play in the Goddard Holiday Tournament.

It opened the tournament with the hosts, falling 44-32.

In the second round, the Eagles took on Albuquerque Academy in a game that provided their best chance for a win so far this season, but in the end fell 30-28.

Keeping with season long trends for the Eagles, they struggled to score in the first quarter of each half before coming alive offensively in the second.

At the half, the Chargers led 13-12 following an 11 point second quarter from BHS.

A 13-point fourth quarter put the Eagles in a position to snag a victory, but they came up just short.

The next day, BHS fell to Fort Sumner 44-30 to close out the tournament.

After the New Year, BHS traveled to Los Alamos and Gallup, losing 46-34 and 72-32 respectively.

Off on Tuesday, the Eagles resume play tonight at 7 p.m. hosting Albuquerque Academy.

Los Lunas

The Tigers had a strong holiday season, going 5-2.

It started off with a tough test against the No. 1 rated team in Class 4A in Kirtland Central that LLHS ultimately came out on the wrong end of, falling 40-36.

The Tigers got back on the right foot two days later, beating Eldorado 48-38 on December 21 to send the team into the five day break.

The Tigers were also in the Kiwanis Alamogordo tournament, which they opened by falling to undefeated Piedra Vista, ranked as the No. 1 team in the state by MaxPreps, 57-43.

LLHS answered by winning their next two games to claim the consolation crown, beating Gallup and Clovis by scores of 60-51 and 58-28.

The first game of the New Year brought a rematch with Gallup, this time at LLHS, which the Tigers once again claimed despite another strong challenge from the Bengals, 54-52.

Last Saturday, the Tigers traveled to Espanola Valley and claimed a 64-39 victory.

On Tuesday, Taos came to town but the score was not available before the News-Bulletin deadline.

The Tigers are off tonight before hosting Roswell on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.