4A Girls State Tournament Preview

The New Mexico High School Basketball State Tournament starts this Friday March 4th, and this article will go over the Girls 4A Bracket consisting of 16 teams and 8 matchups. The First Round is Friday March 4th, the Quarterfinals are Tuesday March 8th, the Semifinals are Thursday March 10th and the Championship games are Friday March 11th. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#1 Kirtland Central vs #16 Miyamura</strong></span> Kirtland Central is this years #1 overall seed in the state tournament from their dominant regular season going 23-5. They won their district title by finishing 9-1 in district play. This is an experienced roster with seven seniors on this seasons team. Their seniors are Aisha Ramone, Rodina Shorty, Lovelia Murphy, Andrea Thomas, Caylynn Lee, Tymeika Johnson and Adriona Nargo. Kirtland Central will be the favorites in this years tournament. Miyamura went 12-15 this season and secured the 16th seed in this years tournament. This team was led by senior duo Mckensie Billy and Tasheena Thompson. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#8 Valencia vs #9 Hope Christian</strong></span> Valencia went 17-11 in the regular season and came in second in district by going  5-3 in district play. This team was led by freshman [player_tooltip player_id="391108" first="Jadyn" last="Montoya"] who averages 9.5 points per game. [player_tooltip player_id="353771" first="Elena" last="Lucero"] also averages  7.8 points per game. [player_tooltip player_id="353771" first="Elena" last="Lucero"] leads the team with 5.8 rebounds per game. Hope Christian secured the 9th seed by going 17-12 this season and 7-1 in district play which had them place 2nd in district. [player_tooltip player_id="391172" first="Kathleen" last="Obisike"] leads the team in scoring averaging  21.3 points per game and [player_tooltip player_id="391174" first="Alyssa" last="Vigil"] averages 15.9 points per game this season. Hope Christian will be a tough matchup for anyone in the tournament. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#5 Highland vs #12 St.Pius</strong></span> Highland went 20-5 this season and won their respective district tile by going 8-0 in district. They are led by [player_tooltip player_id="353744" first="Denice" last="Ryan"] who is one of the top players in the state and won district player of the year. She averaged 17.5 points per game and 4.3 assists this season. [player_tooltip player_id="353953" first="Aaliyah" last="Nevarez"] gives you 10.3 points per game. Highland is a team that can make a serious run in the tournament. St.Pius went 11-12 in the regular season and locked the 12th seed. This is a young roster with no seniors on this team. They were led by their two juniors Reagon Morris and Ily Gonzales. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#4 Portales vs #13 Los Alamos</strong></span> Portales is this tournaments 4th overall seed after going 20-5 this season, 6-0 in district play and winning their district title. They were led by [player_tooltip player_id="353900" first="Taris" last="Rippee"], Riley Shillings, Teagan Faust, Adrianna Garcia and Emma Gonzales. Los Alamos finished 13-14 this season and were led by team captains Lena Chavez, Dailynn Rodriguez and Kenia Macias. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#3 Bernalillo vs #14 Silver</strong></span> Bernalillo is one of the biggest favorites to win this tournament thanks to [player_tooltip player_id="353683" first="Juliana" last="Aragon"]. She is New Mexico’s leading scorer and passer this season. Juliana is averaging 30.3 points per game and 8.1 assists. Teammates [player_tooltip player_id="353912" first="Gabby" last="O’Hara"] is averaging 11.5 points and 8.6 rebounds this season. [player_tooltip player_id="391242" first="Leah" last="Valdez"] is averaging 11.0 points as the teams third leading scorer. Silver comes into this tournament 12-13 this season and this tournaments 14th seed. They are led by team captain Meleah Diaz. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#6 Taos vs #11 Espanola Valley</strong></span> Taos went 21-6 this season, won their district title and went an undefeated 8-0 in district play. Despite all of that, they look underrated as this tournaments 6th seed. This roster has much experience with six seniors on the team. Eunique Salazar, Madelynn Quintana, Marika Moyer, Dahnyell Martinez, Isabela Herrera and Sonya Gallegos. Espanola Valley went 12-14 this season and were led by team captains Analysa Pacheco and Joni Martinez. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#7 Moriarty vs #10 Goddard</strong></span> Moriarty went 18-6 this season, 6-2 in district play and placed second place in district. They are led by [player_tooltip player_id="353914" first="Aneesa" last="Chavez"] who leads the team in scoring by averaging 14.8 points per game and [player_tooltip player_id="353696" first="Payton" last="Edwards"] averaging 9.6 points this season. Goddard finished 15-12 this season, 4-2 in district play and second in their district overall. They were led by [player_tooltip player_id="353745" first="Alexis" last="Sandoval"] who led the team in scoring by averaging 15.2 points per game and [player_tooltip player_id="353916" first="Ericca" last="Cannon"] averaging 10.4 points this season. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">#2 Gallup vs #15 </b><b><u>Chaparral</u></b></span> Gallup is this years 2nd overall seed in the 4A Girls state tournament. They finished 23-4 in the regular season, 9-1 in district play and second in their district only to Kirtland Central the #1 overall seed. This team was led by Trinity Juan, Lansia Joe, <a class="StyledAnchor-sc-jb44mu-0 dfxRrJ" href="https://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/katherine-lincoln/xbXqGQoGmEKF15P5_GZxQw/default.htm">Katherine Lin</a>c<a class="StyledAnchor-sc-jb44mu-0 dfxRrJ" href="https://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/katherine-lincoln/xbXqGQoGmEKF15P5_GZxQw/default.htm">oln</a>, Cheyenne John, Michaela Mccurtain and Hailey Long. Chaparral went 14-14 this season, 4-2 in district play and secured the 15th seed in this years tournament. They were led by Senior Andrea Molina, who leads the team in scoring averaging 10.1 points per game this season. &nbsp;