Some basketball stuff on 3-5A hoops

With District 3-5A boys and girls basketball starting on Tuesday night, here are a few thoughts.

On the girls side, the Alamogordo girls team with its 14-3 record appears to be the team to beat.

The Tigers’ only three losses were to Cibola, La Cueva and Eldorado. Head coach Gary Chapman is in his 12th season as the team’s head coach and he likes this team very much because of its depth and experience. Last year, the Tigers won one game in the 5A state tournament and that was huge for a program that has struggled for consistency in recent years.

The Tigers and Las Cruces High face each other in a big district game early on.

Las Cruces High head coach Matt Abney and his team also won a game in last year’s state tournament and were hoping for a big year this season.

While the Bulldawgs are 8-7 and have some nice wins on their side, they were hoping for a better record entering Tuesday’s district opener. But LCHS is coming off a nice win at home against Hobbs and it is getting improved play from guard Amanda Fratzola, a huge plus for the Bulldawgs.

If Las Cruces High can play good defense and slow the Tigers down with a zone defense and make some shots from the field, it has a chance in the opener.

The key for Las Cruces High is reaching the 50-55 point mark. When the Bulldawgs struggle, it’s because of a lack of consistency on offense.

The Mayfield Trojans girls basketball team suffered a huge loss on Friday night when guard Shatwa Morris went down with a potential season-ending right knee injury.

The 13-4 Trojans are already without senior Desiree Marrufo and if they lose Morris, you can probably kiss the district and state titles goodbye. Mayfield will likely still make the 5A playoffs if they can win at least four games in district, but it doesn’t look good for any extended run past that unless Marrufo comes back and can really help the team. Morris was averaging 18.8 points per game for the defending 5A champs and there is really nobody on the roster right now capable of scoring that many on a consistent basis.

On the boys side, Alamogordo definitely had the most talent, particularly with 6-foot-5 post Matt Peeler on board. But Peeler hasn’t played much this year because of a knee injury. If he comes back, watch out.

If he doesn’t, then the district is up for grabs. Mayfield has had some big wins this year, Onate is much improved and Gadsden is 9-9 but has lost several games by close margins and could easily have four or five more wins.

The key on the boys side of things will be who plays the best defense and who executes the best in the final part of the game. Health is also a concern.
Gadsden and Mayfield say they are healthy going in, LCHS has had no major injuries. Onate is fairly healthy, although guard Abe Tarin turned an ankle in Friday’s win against Carlsbad.

- Felix