By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Both Raton teams advance to the district 3AAA championship games on Saturday in Pecos.
The Raton boys got off to a slow start and trailed most of the game trailing 41-37 at the end of the third. Raton then turned up the heat and took the lead 43-41 and made it a hold your breath game allowing Desert Academy to tie the game at 50 with 1:42 left on the 4th quarter clock. With 59 seconds left Raton lead 52-50 and at with a free throw made it 53-50 with 29 seconds left. Another score and Raton ended this one 55-52 to advance to the district championship game with Pecos on Saturday.
The girls also got off to a slow start with Tierra Encantada striking the first bucket. It would be a couple of minutes before Raton would find the hole finally get on the board. The first half of the game was riddled with turnovers by both teams and the results kept the game close with several lead changes in both quarters.
As the second half got underway the Lady Tigers finally managed to find the bucket a few more times than the Lady Scorpions and finally developed an 8-point lead. As the half unfolded the Lady Scorpions simply wouldn’t give in and managed to keep the score close often coming to within five. As the third quarter wore on the Lady Tigers still struggled with turnovers from bad passes and the Lady Scorpions timing the ball for the steal. By the third quarter buzzer the Lady Tigers had a 10 point lead.
Fourth quarter action continued the same as turnovers plagued Raton, yet they managed to keep the margin about 10 points. Once the final buzzer sounded Raton pulled it out 54-46 to move on to the district championship game Saturday in Pecos.
Tierra 13 9 12 12 46
Raton 18 12 14 10 54
Tierra High Point
Jackie Coronel 9 2 of 7 free throws
Yasmine Torres 11 2 of 4 free throws
Destiny Naverez 11 3 of 5 free throws
Free Throws 13 of 28 attempts
Raton High Point
Andie Ortega 12 1 of 2 free throws 3 3-pointers
Kerrigan Weese 11 1 of 2 free throws
Sydni Silva 11 5 of 8 free throws
Free Throws 12 of 18 attempts
Seniors; Mariah Saenz, Sophia Maddelini, Montana Trujillo, McKenna Valdez and Estrella Vargas
