Mid-Day Madness: Rams, Storm girls open tourney play with wins

Grab some coffee and set those alarms. Tournament basketball means daytime basketball, and the city teams got their own taste of sun-up hoops on Thursday.

Joe Armijo Invitational (Girls): Cleveland: 44, Del Norte: 27

The day started with the Cleveland Storm girls driving down the road to Albuquerque Academy to play in the Joe Armijo Invitational. Stacy Pokorski’s crew was set for a first-round meeting with the Del Norte Knights, bright and early at 8:00 am.

Both teams seemed to be sleepwalking through a sluggish first quarter, with the score tied 6-6 after the opening eight minutes. 

That would change when the Storm would deliver a wake-up call in the second quarter, outscoring the Knights 16-2 and never looking back.

As seen in the preseason previews and early-season recaps, Cleveland’s backcourt play is the golden ticket for Storm success. Instead of the question being whether or not the guards will show out, it’s more of a query of which guard will shine the most?

Today, it was Erin Winters who answered the call. Cleveland’s senior point guard tallied a trio of threes in a 17-point morning, leading the Storm to the stress-free win and getting their invitational run started.

Outside of Winters, fellow guard Malia Mose contributed in all four quarters in a nine-point game, along with Del Norte having trouble guarding center Jaslene Big Crow, who also finished with nine points in a nice performance in the paint.

Cleveland was also lights out on the defensive end, holding Del Norte to three single-digit quarters. The Storm were active on the boards and pesky on-ball, forcing a lot of Knight miscues and turnovers.

Moving on in the championship bracket, the Storm will get to sleep in tomorrow and prepare for a Friday afternoon meeting with Las Cruces.

Mel Otero Invitational (Girls): Rio Rancho: 59, Centennial: 50

Tourney time has hit Rio Rancho High School, with the Rams set to host the Mel Otero Invite this weekend. On their home court, Rio had the honors of opening up the tourney with a 1:00 pm game against the Centennial Hawks.

What looked like another runaway for a city team quickly turned into a second-half sweat. They had to work all four quarters, but Lori Mabrey’s team was able to come away with the round one win.

In the early going, everything was coming up navy and white. Rio’s press was giving Centennial nothing but trouble, leading to easy Ram points on the other end.

Madi and Larissa Martinez, key factors in the Rams' recent tourney win in Gallup, came to play once again on Thursday afternoon. Along with the guard duo, Serena McHugh was too much to handle in the paint for the Hawks' defense.

Rio ended the first quarter 20-6 and headed into the halftime locker room up 31-15. The Rams were rolling in front of classmates, as thanks to the lunchtime start, students were able to “ditch” seventh period to come support the Rams (if they bought a ticket and were able). 

But this feel-good schooltime schooling came to a halt in the second half, as the Hawks did not throw in the towel. A once sputtering offense looked reborn, with Centennial executing textbook passes and great cuts to find some scoring.

As the defense started to crack, so did the Rams' offense. Shots that were once falling were no longer, as the Hawks started to creep back into the picture. 

The Rio faithful started to have some doubts, but lucky for them, the Martinez’s three-point abilities are about as close to a sure thing you can get on the hardwood. 

Larissa and Madi delivered some clutch shots when the Rams needed them most, including Madi hitting one from distance that felt like the dagger to Centennial’s chances.

Rio was able to end with a nine-point victory. Should it have been that close? Were the Hawks gonna come back if they had more time? Who knows? All that we know is that the Rams are 5-0 and await a meeting with Kirtland Central or La Cueva, in what will be a heavyweight second-round matchup either way.