By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton not only had the boys and girls basketball teams in attendance at the 80th annual TSJC tourney Sapphire Encinias represented Raton as a Princess candidate and the cheer squad performed in the cheer competition.
Raton Cheer took first place in the cheer competition at this year’s TSJC tourney. They bested the cheer squads from Heohne, Primero and Trinidad.
In the TSJC Princess contest Randi Silver from GOAL Academy was named Miss Congeniality. This year’s TSJC Princess is Shelby Winter form Trinidad High School. Her court included Gabrielle Dasko from Primero, Jordan Sanchez from Pueblo West and Sapphire Encinias from Raton and Randi Silver.
The Lady Tigers started the tourney off with a close game against Primero and by close it was never more than eight points difference in the score. The first half of the game stayed close with a Raton 26-24 lead at halftime. The girls pulled away a couple of times in the second half but Primero persisted and pulled back to tie or within two. When the final buzzer sounded the girls had one in the win column at 52-47. Sophia Maddaleni scored 16 while Estrella Vargas knocked down 14 points.
In game two it was a different story altogether as Raton took on a fast aggressive Trinidad Lady Miner team and found themselves struggling to make baskets as the turnovers piled up. The Lady Tigers also had trouble pulling down the rebounds and allowed the Lady Miners to pile on the points for a 76-30 win. Estrella Vargas was the only one in double digits for Raton with 10 points.
Game three for the Lady Tigers kept things close with the Lady Farmers from Hoehne finding a spark in the third period and pulling away with a 17-8 point spread. Otherwise the Ladies kept things fairly close in the game, however none of the girls scored in double digits with Estrella Vargas, Halle Medina and Jadyn Walton all scoring six. Hoehne however had one hot handed lady in Jordan Trujillo who put in 22 points to help hand Raton the loss at 44 to 29.
The Raton boys posted a pretty good game on Thursday playing a tough Primero Bulldog team. Primero sent their boys team to the state tourney last year so that says something for Raton as they kept it tight despite the efforts of Vince Damelio who posted 27 points with 12 being beyond the 3-point line. Raton did help themselves in the game by sinking 9 of 16 free throws just over the 50% mark. However Primero managed to put it three more than Raton and ended the game 45-42.
Game two for Raton saw them matched up against a very fast and aggressive Trinidad Miner team. Much like the Lady Miners the boys had a strong presence under the basket and kept Raton at bay in the rebounding department. Trinidad also could do no wrong when it cam to putting shots up making most of their shots with several from 3-point territory. Jason Parker dropped in four 3-point shots for Raton and totaled out at 14 points. Trinidad posted 13 3-pointers in the game on their way to a 90-52 win. Trinidad’s Tanner Smith accounted for three 3-pointers and totaled out at 21 points.
Game three put a mark in the win column for Raton as they bested Custer County 65-16.
