Patience Benally

More great news on local New Mexico talent. Farmington’s Patience Benally has signed her letter of intent to play basketball at Kansas Wesleyan University.

Benally’s athletic and academic achievements are numerous; 2X All-District Selection in 1-4A, 3X Team MVP, Navajo Times All-Star 09-10, Scholar Athlete Award winner, Fighting Heart Award 09-10, and making the All-Academic Team her entire high school career. She ends her prep career having tallied over 1,100 points.

Kansas Wesleyan University, located in Salina, KS, plays in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The Lady Coyotes are lead by Gordon Reimer, who took the Lady Coyotes from 5-24 in the 2004-05 season to a 27-6 season in 2008-09 to advance to the NAIA Divsion II National Championships.

Congratulations, Patience!

Related Links:

Kansas Wesleyan University Women’s Basketball

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Class 4A

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Class 3A

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Class 2A

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Class 1A

First Team

Second Team

Andrea Aragon, the prolific Las Cruces High shooting guard, has signed to play for New Mexico Junior College in the 2010-11 campaign.

Aragon lead the Lady Bulldawgs in 3-point field goal percentage, assists, deflections and steals over the last two years. She also finished up her prep career with a total of 1,060 points, second in state history, according to the NMAA.

Good luck, and congrats, Andrea!

Peralta, a guard from nearby Cliff, New Mexico, will bring leadership to the squad next season. At Cliff High School, Peralta led the team to a 30-1 record during her senior season and a district championship. Last month her team played in the New Mexico Class 1A championship game.

In 2010, Peralta was named to the District 5 All-District First Team, New Mexico High School Coaches Association South All-Star Basketball Team, District 1A All-State First Team, and All-Tournament Team at the Cowgirl Invite. This season she averaged 20 points and six rebounds per game. She also received the Heart and Hustle award for her performance on the court.

As a junior, Peralta was named to the District 1A All-State Second Team. She also was placed on the all-tournament teams at the Mountain Top Tournament, Lady Maverick Fiesta, and Cowgirl Invite. In 2008, Peralta was named to the Mountain Top Tournament and Lady Maverick Fiesta All-Tournament teams. Also in 2008, she was named an All-District Honorable Mention selection.

Throughout her four years at Cliff, Peralta maintained an impressive 4.15 GPA while participating in athletics. In 2010, she received the US Army Reserve National Scholar Athlete Award and placed first in the Regional Science Fair. She is a proud member of the National Honors Society and has continually been placed on the Honor Roll.

“Mariah will bring a tough-minded approach that our team needs. She is a natural leader, and I see her contributing in a lot of ways, both on and off the court,” states Adams. “She will develop into a solid and consistent player over the next few years.”

Surrounded by family, Jade Brown signs her letter of intent to play for Eastern.

Congratulations to Jade Brown for signing to play for Eastern New Mexico.

Brown, a transfer to Las Cruces High from Oñate two seasons ago, made her mark as a gritty and smart player helping the Lady ‘Dawgs to a final four appearance in the 2009-10 state tournament.

Learn more about Brown’s signing in the Las Cruces Sun News

Check out the Eastern New Mexico Women’s basketball web site.

Devon Mulheron signs with Cochese College as mom, Danielle watches

Devon Mulheron has signed to play at the next level with Cochise College.

The Las Cruces center scored 850 points, had 428 rebounds and blocked 68 shots in her basketball career at Las Cruces High. Most recently, Mulheron was money at the charity stripe during the Bulldawgs state championship game, sinking 10 out of 12 free throw attempts during the second half of the Cruces-Cibola game.

Congrats, Devon!

To learn more, visit the Cochise College website

Angel weighed her many options and offers but felt comfortable with the program. Coached by Drew Sanders, the the Lady T-Birds are a fairly young program, ending the season with six sophomores and 11 freshmen. They went 16-14 in the 2009-2010 campaign, losing the Collin County CC in the first round of the NJCAA Region 5 tournament.

Congrats again to Angel – good luck!

The Cibola-Rio Grande game looked to be close one. The Journal is reporting that the RG head coach did not start his star shooting guard because of a  “strategic decision”. It boggles my mind why you wouldn’t start a player that can help you get to the next level and keep her out for the first three minutes. No complaints from Cibola for this egregious decision. Cougar Alex De La O had the shot to lift her team to the next level. Looking at the box, Cibola got exactly what they needed off the bench. Nice performance from Ashley Ward (14 pts) and Elyse Brewster (12 pts).

La Cueva shut down Mayfield’s three-point attack perfectly.

Eldorado: Yikes!

The final score in the Valley-Hobbs game: 60-19. Hobbs is a pretty good team and Valley ran past them with no problems. Valley played some great defense and had a strong showing from their bench. Angel Reyes lead all scorers with 20 points, followed by Jordan Gutierrez with 11. Watch out for the Vikes–if they can sustain this level of play, they will be are dangerous.

On the opposite end of the point differential spectrum, Manzano played Gallup much, much closer than I think anyone could have predicted. April Semler had 12 points, Caroline Lantor 11. Gallup’s Alannah Spencer lead the way for the Lady Bengals with 14 points.

Scores from last night

Updated Brackets

The seeding committees will meet at 10:00 in Albuquerque to decide the seeding of the respective classes. To view the complete committee list, download from the NMAA site. The final seeds are usually available by 12 noon.

Scores from last night

Mayfield 42, Las Cruces 40

Mayfield was determined to get a win against their nemesis, and while it may have taken them four regular season games and numerous match-ups over the summer, they finally got it.

Mayfield’s Elena Holguin lead the Lady Trojans on the night with 15, but it was Alina Burger’s two clutch three-point goals in the final minutes of the game that deflated the ‘Dawgs.

Las Cruces almost made the comeback with an Andrea Aragon three-point shot to bring them within two, but with Mayfield running an aggressive press, there were able to get the steal and hold on the ball for the win.

Eldorado 71, Rio Grande 48

Kya DeGarmo was in the zone last night, with 34 points (9 off 3-pointers) as Eldorado took care of business in the 5-5A district championship game. Very nice. Again, it looks like the majority of the Eldo bench got to see some play against the Ravens.

It wasn’t enough, but Monique Macias racked up 25 points of her own, followed by Bernadette Sanchez’s 17. Unfortunately, the combined total of the only other two players to score was six points.

Other Scores

Cleveland 37, Cibola 31

Kudos to Cleveland for making it to the district tournament championship game in their inaugural season. Lead by Sara Hattis’s 14 and Courtnie Latham’s 9, the Storm now gets to travel to Gallup and take on the tough Lady Bengals in an even tougher place to play. I wonder how effective Hattis will be with Gallup swarming all over her.

With Cibola’s Chapman out with a broken foot the bench needs to step up and produce (I posted about earlier this season.) Cibola’s Amber Battle lead the Cougars with 9 points before she fouled out. Elyse Brewster had 6 before she fouled out.

Rio Grande 49, Manzano 46

I did a double take; both Sanchez and Macias with only 11 apiece? Luckily Jocelyn Gamboa was able to put down 20 to help the Ravens get past the up-and-coming Manzano. Nice peformance from Lady Monarch Caroline Lantor, who lead her team with 15.

Next up for the Ravens is Kya DeGarmo and the Eldo squad. The Ravens need Sanchez, Macias and the rest of the squad to be in top form to have a chance at the might Lady Golden Eagles tonight.

Texico 37, Santa Rosa 35

Another close one for the Wolverines, senior guard Victoria Richards was able to lift Texico over the scrappy Lions on a three-point play.

The rest of the scores

Games to Watch

A quick rundown of games to watch:

Mayfield @ Las Cruces 7:00 PM

This is the fourth regular season meeting between these arch-rivals. Las Cruces has been able to hold off the Lady Trojans thus far, but Mayfield made a game of it in their last match-up.

Hatch Valley @ Socorro 5:30 PM

These two have split the regular season, each winning on their home court.

Cleveland @ Gallup 7:00 PM

Cleveland played them tough in their last match-up, Cleveland’s Latham and the rest of the Storm will really need to step it up to make this a game.

La Cueva @ Sandia 7:00 PM

Sandia, #3 in the state, takes on the always-relevant Bears.