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Rehoboth girls outpace Zuni, 61-50

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Lady Lynx now face Tohatchi on Feb. 24

REHOBOTH, N.M. — The Rehoboth Lady Lynx hit 15 consecutive shots over the course of the second and third quarters and got past Zuni 61-50 Feb. 22 in a District 1-3A semi-final girls basketball game.

The win means the Lady Lynx, who are the No. 3 seed, advance to play Tohatchi Feb. 24 in an away game for the 3A district championship. Tohatchi is ranked No. 3 in the state. The winner of that game goes on to play the opening round state playoff game at a site yet to be determined.

The Lady Cougars beat the Lady Lynx twice this season by scores of 61-23 and 68-46.

“We made shots when we needed to make shots,” Rehoboth head coach Adrian Pete said. “The game was pretty much even in the first quarter. We got some runs going and were able to play sound defense in the latter quarters.”

Rehoboth (19-9, 6-3) won the first quarter 11-9 behind the overall court play of senior guard Halle Lizer. Lizer scored a game high 17 points, hitting an assortment of layups and short jumpers in the opening quarter. Junior forward Kennedi Chapman was instrumental early on in getting offensive and defensive rebounds for the Lady Lynx, which led to second chance points.

The Lady Lynx exploded in the second quarter, going on an offensive tear and ended up winning the second quarter 18-9. Zuni senior guard Alexis Leekela was aggressive on offense for the Lady Thunderbirds (9-14, 1-8), but not a lot of shots were falling. Freshman point guard Kaitlin Romancito ran Zuni’s offense superbly and penetrated for points, in some instances getting to the foul line for points.

Zuni made runs in the latter part of the second quarter, bringing the score to 24-18 with 2:09 left on the game clock. The runs were at a time when Rehoboth junior center Rachel Martin was not in the game. The score was 29-18 at the end of the second and it looked as though anybody could surge ahead.

“We made runs and we made some very good runs,” first-year Zuni head coach Rhonan Begay said. “We just couldn’t hit the shots that we needed to hit.”

Lizer opened the third quarter with a steal and a layup for a 31-18 Rehoboth cushion. Leekela and Romancito responded with jumpers. As a team, Zuni rebounded well, and the sole primary players who got in position to score were Leekela and Romancito.

Lizer, Chapman and Martin kept pouring it on offensively, and in spite of Romancito’s passing and driving, the Lady Lynx simply demonstrated too much firepower at the other end. The third quarter ended with the Lady Lynx leading 45-31 and Pete experimented with a spread offense.

Rehoboth sophomore guard Patricia Chavira played the complete floor game for the Lady Lynx, diving for loose balls and hitting put backs and garbage points. When Lizer went cold, Chavira was there to pick up the offensive and defensive slack.

Romancito led Zuni with 15 hard-earned points against a Rehoboth defense that did not give up easy points. Both teams were 6-of-16 from the free throw stripe. Zuni recorded 6 3-point shots and Rehoboth 3. Rehoboth won the battle of the boards 34-25.

Who’s Got Next?

Rehoboth will have its hands full against the defending 3A state champs in Tohatchi (20-6, 8-0). Tohatchi senior point guard Kalian Mitchell is one of the state’s strongest players. The Lady Cougars are riding a 13-game winning streak going into the March 3 district championship game.

By Bernie Dotson
For the Sun