Holiday Hoop-La Girls wrap, 12/27

By Felix Chavez
Sun-News Reporter
LAS CRUCES — The semifinals are set for the girls portion of the 4th Annual Holiday Hoop-La High School Basketball Tournament. Las Cruces High will take on El Paso Hanks at 3:30 p.m. and Mayfield will meet El Paso Chapin at 6:30 p.m. at the Pan American Center.

Las Cruces 70, El Paso Andress 42
LAS CRUCES — Las Cruces High spent a lot of time shooting the ball in practice leading up to Thursday morning’s opening round game against El Paso Andress.
The hard work paid off as the Bulldawgs advanced to the semifinals of the girls portion of the 4th Annual Holiday Hoop-La with a 70-42 victory at the Pan American Center.
Las Cruces High (5-4) hit eight 3-pointers and outscored Andress 30-3 over the final 8:23 of the game.
“The extra shooting certainly helped,” LCHS head coach Matt Abney said. “Our kids executed on offense and really did a nice job of being patient on offense.”
Forward Domonique Rivera led the Bulldawgs charge with 20 points, followed by post Devon Mulheron with 13 and guard Andrea Aragon with 12. Aragon hit four 3-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter when the Bulldawgs pulled away. Las Cruces High also got strong showings from guards Amy Fratzola, Amanda Fratzola and Felicia Padilla.
Amanda Fratzola got the starting nod and responded with nine points, Amy Fratzola had eight points and Padilla hit two big triples in the first half.
The Bulldawgs and Eagles were tied 10-10 after one, but LCHS led 30-27 at halftime.
Andress was led by Elizabeth Collins’ 13 points.

Mayfield 66, Socorro (Texas) 50
The Trojans improved to 8-3 with a solid win against the Bulldogs. Mayfield, which played without starting senior guard Shatwa Morris, scored the game’s first 14 points and never trailed in the game.
Morris is expected to be back with the team for tonight’s semifinals. She was visiting with family over the holidays.
The Trojans got balance on offense with three players in double figures and 11 players scoring at least one point.
Senior point guard Amanda Tucker scored 15 points to lead the way. She started strong, scoring 10 in the first half. Forward Catheryne Chavarria added 11 and guard Elena Holguin had 10. Holguin, a freshman, was making her first career start.
“We did some good things on offense, we took care of the ball and got some good shots,” MHS head coach George Maya said. “We have some young players, we continue to grow and we just want to keep building.”
The Trojans led 39-21 at halftime and led by as much as 25 in the second half.
Socorro was led by Giselle Aguirre, who had 22 points, including four 3-pointers.

El Paso Hanks 45, Los Alamos 42
Hanks had to do everything to hold off a pesky Hilltoppers to advance to Friday’s semifinals against Las Cruces High in the girls portion of the 4th Annual Holiday Hoop-La high school basketball tournament at the Pan American Center.
Hanks improved to 12-6 on the season, while Los Alamos is 4-5. Hanks got 16 points from Kelsey Canavan to lead the way.
Hanks will meet LCHS today at 3:30 p.m.
“Los Alamos is a tough team,” Hanks coach Patty Mullany said. “We struggled at times, but we did some good things. We have to cut down on turnovers.”
Hanks also got 10 points from guard Alexa Candelaria, who hit a couple of big shots and added a nifty assist in the fourth quarter to put Hanks up 43-34.
Los Alamos rallied in the final two minutes and cut the lead to 45-42 on a Tyree Richins layin with 12 seconds left, but that would be as close as they would get.
The Hilltoppers got 12 points each from Bryanna Richins and Sarah Ethridge.
Hanks trailed just once in the game, 2-0, and led 11-6 after one quarter, 21-16 at halftime and 32-27 after three quarters.
Today’s matchup against Las Cruces High will be the first meeting between Hanks and the Bulldawgs. Hanks has already beaten Mayfield and Oñate this year.
“Las Cruces High will pressure us, we’ll have to take care of the ball,” Mullany said.

El Paso Chapin 52, Oñate 25
The Huskies dominated the action from start to finish in advancing to the semifinals for the third straight season.
Hanna Altheide scored a game-high 22 points and Onate finished with 35 turnovers.
The Knights had just seven field goals in the game and missed 17 free throws in the game.
Chapin led 10-5 after one quarter, 22-12 at the half and 31-15 after three quarters.
The Knights, who were led by Amanda Roberts’ five points, scored just three points in the third quarter
The Knights will play at noon today against Socorro.

Felix Chavez can be reached at fchavez@lcsun-news.com