Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
By MIKE COTE
Sports
Los Alamos Daily Post
The sixth-seeded Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team will take on a stout contender in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament Friday.
Los Alamos will square off against 11th-seeded Valley at 6 p.m. Friday. Los Alamos will host Friday’s game at Griffith Gymnasium by virtue of being the higher seed.
Friday’s game will be broadcast on the Los Alamos Daily Post’s YouTube channel.
Valley’s Vikings, who come out of District 6, finished as the runner-up in that district during the regular season but were upset in their most recent game, the District 6 tournament semifinals, where they were nipped by Albuquerque Academy, 36-35.
Valley finished the season with a record of 16-11. However, almost half of the Vikings’ losses came against the same two teams, Hope Christian and Albuquerque High. Hope Christian was the District 6 regular season champion and is the No. 4 seed in the Class 4A playoffs, while Albuquerque is on the very short list of favorites to win the Class 5A state tournament.
Los Alamos, which posted a record of 19-7, lost just three games after an 0-4 start to the season and swept its District 2 regular season schedule.
Unfortunately, despite winning both the regular season and district tournament titles, Los Alamos struggled late more than expected. Los Alamos had a lackluster performance against Espanola Valley Feb. 10 – the Sundevils might have won that game had they simply converted several open layup chances – and was very nearly upset by district doormat Taos Feb. 16.
In the District 2 tournament championship game, Moriarty, a team the Hilltoppers had no trouble with during their two regular season meetings, led by double-digits at the half. The Hilltoppers mounted a big third quarter comeback, however, then put the Pintos away in overtime, 56-52.
Los Alamos was led in scoring this season by sophomore GG Romero, who will be looked at to step up this postseason, as well.
Romero got plenty of support from guards Abby Martinez and Sofia Trujillo, along with shooting guard Carley Holland.
During the course of the district season, center Tara McDonald came on strong, particularly on the defensive side of the court, but had a handful of double-digit scoring contests during district play, as well.
The Vikings were led in scoring by shooting guard Giana Roybal, who averaged 12.4 points per game. Power forward Grace Maestas averaged nearly 7 rebounds per game this season.
The winner of Friday’s game will move on to play at University Arena (The Pit) in Albuquerque. That team will face the winner between third-seeded St. Pius X and 14th-seeded Portales Tuesday.
