Hilltoppers earn the trophy at the 2025 Lady Horsemen Christmas Tournament. Courtesy photo

SPORTS News:

The Los Alamos High School Hilltoppers girls varsity basketball team participated in the 2025 Lady Horsemen Christmas Tournament Dec. 18-20 and brought home the blue trophy.

Their first game was against Cuba High School. The Hilltoppers led most of the game but couldn’t pull away. Javaya Davison and Kohynn Young did most of the scoring in the first three quarters. In the 4th quarter, the Hilltoppers pulled away for a 52-36 win.

The 2nd game was a rematch of the first game of the season between the Hilltoppers and the host team, the Lady Horsemen of St. Mike’s.

It was once again a great battle between the two teams with the Hilltoppers taking a 36-28 lead into the 4th quarter. This time, Aaliyah Chavez joined Davison with the bulk of the scoring in the first 3 quarters.  The Hilltoppers applied their best defensive energy of the season and kept St. Mike’s off-balance most of the game. In the 4th quarter, the Lady Horsemen made a nice run to tie the score and then took a 4 point lead. The Hilltoppers made a run of their own and the lead changed hands several times. With about 2 minutes left, the Hilltoppers capitalized on some turnovers and timely buckets to pull away with the final score at 48-39.

The championship game matched district foes. The Hilltoppers faced off against the Española Sundevils. The Hilltoppers continued their defensive energy into the game and kept the Sundevils off-balance for three quarters. The taller Hilltoppers blocked shots and altered shots most of the game and kept the Sundevils from penetrating into the lane.

The Hilltoppers took a 22-8 lead into half-time. The Sundevils made some runs in the 2nd half but couldn’t close to less than 8. The Hilltoppers won it by a score of 40-32.

The Hilltoppers placed Chavez, Young and Davison on the All-Tournament team with Davison earning the Tournament MVP award. She scored 53 points in the three games!