District 3AAA
Both the Raton Girls and Boys Basketball teams earned a berth in the Championship game for District 3AAA Basketball Tournament against Pecos on Saturday, February 25, but it was the Pecos teams that showed up and proved why they were both undefeated in regular season district play taking a 71 – 39 win in the girls game and then following with a 78 – 28 win in the boy’s title game.
The Lady Tigers stayed with the Lady Panthers for the first quarter as sophomore Andie Ortega poured in three three-pointers and were only down by four at the end of the period.
The second period, though had the Lady Panthers ramping up the defense and the Lady Tigers making several mistakes to be outscored 13 – 4 and were down by 13 at halftime.
The Lady Tigers stayed with Pecos in the third, but then the Lady Panthers made 11 of 15 free throw attempts in the fourth period to pull away for the Championship Trophy. Overall the Panthers were 26 of 41 at the line while the Lady Tigers were 9 of 15.
Cassy Muller, named MVP for the season in District 3AAA, poured in 16 points for the Panthers.
Raton’s Estrella Vargas had 13, Andie Ortega had 11, Jadyn Walton had 4, Sofia Maddalini scored 3, with Camryn Mileta, Natausha Ortega, Kerrigan Weese and Sydni Silva scoring two apiece.
Silva was named All-District 2nd Team as Vargas, Andie Ortega and Maddalini were named First Team All-District 3AAA as named in ceremonies following the game.
In the boys championship, Raton tried to stay with the number one ranked team in the state, but the Panthers earned their 24th straight win on the strength of Mario Archuleta’s 26 point performance. Archuleta was named MVP for the district season, and had 16 in the first period including 3, three pointers to give the Panthers an insurmountable 23-9 lead at the end of the firs period.
Raton’s Austin Jones and Jonathan Cabriales were both named All-District First team, while Jesse Espinoza was honored with All-District 2nd Team.
Boys 3AAA Tournament
Game 1 ATATC 54 Tierra Encantada 66
Boys Game 2 Tierra Encantada 46 Raton 73
Boys Game 3 Desert Academy 52 Raton 55
Boys Championship Game Raton 28 Pecos 78
Girls 3AAA Tournament
Game 3 Tierra Encantada 46 Raton 54
Girls Championship Game Raton 39 Pecos 71
District 5A
Boys Game 1 Des Moines 41 Roy/Mosquero 65
Girls Game 1 Des Moines 45 Springer 41
Boys Game 2 Roy/Mosquero Cimarron
Girls Game 2 Des Moines 58 Cimarron 42
Boys Game 3 Cimarron 42 Springer 85
Girls Championship Game Des Moines 37 Roy/Mosquero 49
Boys Championship Game Springer 56 Maxwell 70
