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ARIANNA CRUZ - Littlefield Lady Cats
The Littlefield Lady Cats’ varsity basketball team finished as the runner ups at the Wildcat Classic, which concluded Wednesday evening, as they fell to Portales in the Championship game, 48-39.
With the loss, the Lady Cats finish tournament play, 2-1.
Adrianna Garcia opened the contest with a put-back off of a miss by Taris Rippee for Portales, but Arianna Cruz answered with a three from the left elbow on the other end for Littlefield to put the Lady Cats up, 3-0. Riley Stallings drained a three from the left elbow for Portales and on their following possession, Emma Gonzales was fouled on an attempt by Cruz and split the free throws to extend their lead to, 6-3, with 6:34 to play in the opening quarter.
Stallings scored a put-back off of a miss by Gonzales, but on the other end, Cruz was fouled on a three-point attempt by Gonzales; she sank all three shots from the free-throw line to make it a one-possession game, 8-6. With 5:17 remaining in the quarter, Rippee knocked down a pull-up jumper from the right elbow over Brookelyn Gau and followed it up with a lay-up to extend their lead to, 12-6, as the first quarter came to a close.
With 5:55 remaining in the half, Teagan Faust drained a three from the left wing to push their lead to, 15-6, but on the next play, Ashtyn Parker drew a blocking foul on Stallings, earning a trip to the line. She split the free throws, trimming the lead to, 15-7. Faust responded with a reverse layup for Portales, but Cruz answered with a lay-up, off of the assist from Parker and Kennadi Hanlin heaved an outlet pass ahead to Cruz on the next play, who finished the fast-break with a lay-up, cutting the lead to, 17- 11.
With just under three minutes to play in the first half, Leilani Solis was fouled on the floor by Rippee, earning a one-in-one opportunity at the line. She made one-of-two shots at the line to trim the lead to, 17-12. Faust drove the left baseline for a lay-up, but Solis answered on the other end with a lay-up, off of an assist from Gau to make the core, 19-14. With time winding down in the half, Haley Disney drained a three from the left elbow, making the score, 22-14, heading into the locker room at halftime.
Mahalia Huey opened the second half with back-to-back lay-ups for Littlefield, slicing the Portales lead to, 22-18, as Portales took a time out with 5:17 remaining in the third quarter. Out of the break, Rippee was fouled on an attempt by Huey; she sank both free throws to make it a six point Portales lead, but on the other end, Cruz passed the ball inside to Gau, who was fouled on an attempt by Garcia. She made one-of-two shots at the line to trim the lead to, 24-19.
With just over three minutes to play in the quarter, Faust drove the left baseline for a lay-up and followed it up on their next possession with a backdoor pass to Rippee, who finished the play with a lay-up, stretching their lead back out to, 28-19.
Cruz knocked down a three from the left elbow off of the assist from Parker, but on the other end, Garcia was fouled on an attempt by Huey. She split the free throws, making the score, 29-22. Faust scored a put-back off of a miss by Stallings to make it a nine-point game, but Cruz responded with a three from the right elbow, off of the assist from Gau, making the score, 31-25. However Stallings heaved up and drained a half-court shot to beat the buzzer, sending Portales into the fourth quarter in front of Littlefield, 34-25.
Rippee opened the fourth quarter with a put-back, but Gau answered on the other end with a put-back off of a miss by Solis to make the score, 36-27. Hanlin tooka charge on Rippee with just over six minutes to play in the game and with 6:03 left to play Portales’ Head Coach was hit with a technical foul, sending Cruz to the free-throw line. She sank both shots to cut the lead to, 36-29.
Rippee scored a put-back, as Littlefield took a time out to talk things over with 4:47 left in the game. Out of the break, Cruz was fouled on the floor by Faust in the double-bonus, sending her to the line for a pair of free throws. She sank both shots and Gau followed it up with a jumper in the lane to make it a five-point game, 38- 33.
With 2:29 remaining, Rippee was fouled on a put-back attempt by Solis; she drained both free throws to push their lead back out to seven points, making the score, 40-33. Garcia split a pair of free throws for Portales, but Solis answered with a three from the left wing, making the score, 41-36, as Littlefield quickly called a time out to talk things over with 1:35 to play in the game.
Stallings and Garcia each split a pair of free throws before Littlefield took a time out with just under one minute to play. Out of the break, Hanlin picked up a steal under their own basket and took it up for a lay-up, trimming the lead to, 43-38, as the lady Cats called another time out with 44.4 seconds left to preserve the clock.
Portales, though, would close out the game on a, 5-1, scoring run to take the contest, 48-39.
Cruz led the team in scoring with 20 points, to go along with four rebounds, while Solis tallied six points, one assist, one block and one steal, and Gau chipped in five points, six rebounds, two steals and one assist. Huey contributed four points and five rebounds, while Hanlin tallied two points, three rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Parker notched one point, four rebounds, two assists and one steal, while Barios added one point and one rebound, and Amiah Elizondo finished with two rebounds.
The Lady Cats will resume district play on Tuesday with a home game against Dimmitt.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.