The Las Cruces Bulldawgs were the 62-60 winner over the Farmington Scorpions when they last played one another back in March, but their luck changed this time around. Las Cruces took a hard 72-53 fall against Farmington on Thursday. While losing is never fun, Las Cruces can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked 33rd, while Farmington is ranked second).
Several Bulldawgs players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Ryan Rodriguez, who scored 14 points. Those 14 points set a new season-high mark for her. Aaliyah Morales was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with eight rebounds.
Even though they lost, Las Cruces were working as a unit and finished the game with ten assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Farmington only racked up 23 assists.
Leading Farmington to victory were Kjani Anitielu and Kapiolani Anitielu. Anitielu scored 19 points, while Anitielu scored ten points along with eight rebounds and six assists. Those 19 points set a new season-high mark for her. The team also got some help courtesy of Aiyana Russell, who scored ten points.
Las Cruces' defeat ended a nine-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 1-3. As for Farmington, the victory for they keeps them at an undefeated 4-0.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Las Cruces won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Cibola at 9:45 a.m. on December 15th. Farmington won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Albuquerque Academy at 4:45 p.m. on December 15th. Hopefully Albuquerque Academy focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 18 on Thursday.
