New Mexico State Championships: Top Performers

<p style="text-align: left;">The New Mexico High School Basketball State Tournament came to its conclusion this past Friday and Saturday for the championship games in the 1A-5A classes. We crowned 5 state champions and saw several great performances be put on display during championship weekend.</p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>1A Girls State Championship</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">#2 Fort Sumner House defeated #4 Melrose in the 1A state championship game 56-30. This game was played Saturday March 12th at the Pit, at 10:00 am. Fort Sumner/House was led by <strong>Avery Cavett</strong> who was the teams leading scorer in the game with 14 points. She shot 4/8 from the field, shot 3/5 from three point range and shot 3/5 from the free throw line. <strong>Avery</strong> also grabbed 5 rebounds to lead Fort Sumner/House to win the 1A state championship.</p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2A Girls State Championship</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">#2 Clayton defeated #1 Escalante in the 2A state championship 48-47. This game was played Saturday March 12th at the Pit, at 4:00 pm. Clayton was led by <strong>Akira Herrera</strong> who scored a team high 14 points on 5/12 shooting from the field, 4/6 shooting from the free throw line and grabbed 5 rebounds. <strong>Brycelyn Martinez</strong> from Escalante had a solid performance despite the loss, she scored a game high 20 points. She shot 8/16 from the field, shot 4/6 from the free throw line and recorded a double-double by grabbing 12 rebounds. Clayton won the state championship over Escalante 48-47.</p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>3A Girls State Championship</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">#1 Robertson defeated #3 Santa Fe Indian 71-50 in the 3A girls state championship. This game was played March 11th at the Pit, at 4:00 pm. Robertson was led by <strong>Azylyn Padilla</strong>, [player_tooltip player_id="353922" first="Mistidawn" last="Roybal"], [player_tooltip player_id="353902" first="Brianna" last="Quintana"] and [player_tooltip player_id="353692" first="Jayden" last="Jenkins"].</p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>4A Girls State Championship</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">#1 Kirtland Central defeated #3 Bernalillo 55-32 in the 4A state championship. This game was played March 11th at the Pit, at 8:00 pm. <strong>Aisha Ramone</strong> was the best player on the court during this championship game with her solid performance. She scored a game high 23 points on 7/13 shooting from the field, shot 2/5 from three-point range and shot 7/9 from the free throw line. She also recorded 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the teams state championship victory.</p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>5A Girls State Championship</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">#1 Volcano Vista defeated #2 Hobbs 49-32 in the 5A state championship game. This game was played March 11th at the Pit, at 6:00 pm. The Volcano Vista Hawks ended the season going undefeated at 29-0 and won back to back state championships. They were led by [player_tooltip player_id="353693" first="Jaelyn" last="Bates"] who had a team high 18 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and dished 3 assists. Center [player_tooltip player_id="357657" first="Taejhuan" last="Hill"] recorded a double-double in the teams championship win scoring 12 points on 5/9 shooting from the field and grabbing 10 rebounds off the glass.</p>