Panther boys, girls play in tournaments this weekend

Panther boys, girls play in tournaments this weekend

Dec. 14, 2000

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

Montezuma-Cortez High School’s boys and girls varsity basketball teams will be busy competing in tournaments beginning today, Dec. 14.

The Panther boys will be competing in the seventh annual Navajo Generating Station Tournament at Page, Ariz. They are marking their third straight and their fourth appearance overall.

They will take a 3-0 record into the tourney. The Panthers are coming off a 71-50 win over Piedra Vista (Farmington) at home last weekend.

The Panthers open the three-day tournament by playing Tuba City, Ariz., at 3 p.m. today in first-round action. In other first round games, Westwood (Phoenix) takes on Monument Valley (Kayenta, Ariz.) at about 4:45. Dixie (St. George, Utah) battles Cheyenne (Las Vegas, Nev.) at 6:15, and host Page, Ariz. faces Farmington High at 8:30. Play continues all day Friday and ends Saturday afternoon, Dec. 15-16.

"This is a good tournament for us," MCHS head coach Wade Mortensen said. "We like playing in this because the competition is so good. We get a chance to see teams from outside our area."

The MCHS girls will be competing in the Aztec (N.M.) Invitational this Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15-16. The Panthers, 2-3, will tangle with Navajo Prep at about 6 p.m. Friday in Lillywhite Gym. Besides the host Tigers, Ignacio also will be in the event.

They are coming off a sixth-place finish at the Mel Otero Rio Rancho (N.M.) Tournament last weekend, Dec. 7-9.

Cortez meet Los Alamos, N.M., in the first round of the tourney.

MCHS led 14-9 after the first quarter and held a 24-20 lead at the half. However, things went sour for the Panthers in the third quarter as the Hilltoppers dumped in 20 while Cortez scored 12. Los Alamos also outpointed MCHS 14-11 in the first quarter for a 54-47 win.

Casey Bauer led the way with 13 points while Lindsey Wilson and Emilie Lanier tossed in 9 each. Christy Meade led Los Alamos with 12 and Krystal Thompson added 11.

"We played good defense for the first half. We only allowed them three field goals but they made 14 foul shots," first-year MCHS head coach Stan Yake reported. "We really did play well in the first half."

But Cortez came out "flat" to start the second half.

"We didn’t play well at all in the third quarter. We were flat and they got their offense rolling. In the fourth quarter we just played catch-up," Yake noted.

The Panthers completely overwhelmed Belen, N.M., in the second game of the tournament on Friday. In fact, Cortez blanked the Eagles in the second quarter and held them to only 8 points in the first quarter. MCHS, meanwhile, scored 28 points in the first half. Cortez outscored Belen 32-23 in the second half.

MCHS exhibited balanced scoring for the game. Lanier pumped in 13, Allison 12, Bauer 11, and Wilson 7. Stephanie Sanchez led Belen with 7.

"They were the weakest team in the tournament," Yake noted. "We did play pretty well offensively and defensively. Everyone except for two scored. It was one sided."

Cortez played for fifth-sixth on Saturday afternoon against Portales, N.M. Portales won 50-38.

Portales scored 11 in the first, 12 in the second, 11 in the third, and 16 in the fourth. Cortez tallied 7 in the first, 12 in the second, 7 in the third, and 12 in the fourth.

Bauer led Cortez with 13 while Allison tossed in 8. Jayther Culpepper led Portales with 12.

"They shot much better than we did," he said. "They also played better defensively than we did. They had good overall height which was tough for our smaller girls to handle. Again, we watched them play the night before and they did shoot very well. It was not one of our better games, either."

For the record, host Rio Rancho defeated Durango 50-36 for the championship. Los Lunas came in third by beating Los Alamos 52-43. Capital (Santa Fe) won seventh place with a 55-45 victory over Belen.

The Bulldog boys competed last weekend in the annual Wolf Creek Classic at Pagosa Springs.

Dolores County played host Pagosa Springs, a very good Class AAA team, in the first round last Friday, Dec. 8. The Bulldogs lost 49-28. The Pirates jumped on Dove Creek early by taking a 12-4 lead at the first quarter. Pagosa outpointed DCHS 19-10 in the second to go out front 31-14 at the intermission. Dove Creek came out flat and scored only 4 points in the third quarter while Pagosa popped in 14. The Bulldogs had 10 and Pagosa 4 in the final stanza.

Keith Pierce led DCHS with 9.

"Pagosa has a good team," DCHS second-year coach Scott Crawford said. "They took second in the consolation (State Tournament) and should be right at the top this year. We lost Chris Kail, our point guard when a twisted an ankle, pulling some tendons. Dallas Coker, who has never played the point, did a good job for us."

Dove Creek got an early look at San Juan Basin League favorite Nucla Saturday morning, Dec. 9. Nucla led 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and 34-24 at the half. Nucla outscored Dolores County 33-16 in the second half for the 68-40 victory.

Pierce led DCHS with 22 and Coker chipped in 7.

"Nucla is the league favorite and has a senior club," he said.

Later that day, Dove Creek played Gunnison and fell 71-31.

Gunnison led 16-1 after one period and held a commanding 33-11 at the break. Gunnison outscored Dove Creek 38-20 in the second half.

"Gunnison has a fairly good team and should be strong in the post-season in Class 3A. They have a few more players to choose from than we do. Gunnison got off to a quick start on us and we played catch up the rest of the game. The kids were getting tired as it was our second game of the day. I think they just wanted to go home in the second half," Crawford added.

The Bulldog girls, who have been idle since their own Bulldog Tournament a week ago, will compete this Friday and Saturday in the Piedra Vista Tournament in Farmington. Dolores County enters the tourney with a 1-1 record. The Bulldogs take on Piedra Vista in the second game of the day on Friday (about 7:30 p.m.). Cuba and Kearns play at 6 p.m. The winners meet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and the losers at 6 p.m.

Looming ahead on the schedule is the annual Blue Jay Classic, set for Dec. 18-23.

Host Mancos varsity boys and girls will play Tuesday, Friday and Saturday that week with all varsity games being played in the Mancos Performance Center.

The Blue Jays girls will host Kirtland-Central JVs while the MHS boys will host Ignacio Tuesday at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m., respectively. Mancos girls will play Durango JVs at 5:30 and MHS boys Montezuma-Cortez JVs at 7:15 p.m. Friday. Mancos will host Farmington High JVs at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m. Saturday. Dolores County boys and girls visit Ridgway beginning at 6 p.m. today, Dec. 14.