2024 State Championships: 4A Final Four Recap

Matthew Martinez March 15, 2024 @ 12:46 PM

<p>ALBUQUERQUE -- The St. Pius X Sartans and the Kirtland Central Bulldogs advance to the 4A title game after commanding wins in the Final Four. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Sartans roll past Bulldogs 61-41</h2>   <p>The first 'Final Four' matchup was an 8 a.m. clash between the No. 2 Sartans and the No. 3 Bulldogs. </p>   <p>The Sartans went 24/54 from the field overall, connecting on 7/18 attempts behind the arc, doubling their totals from the 'Elite Eight' (FG:12/58 & 3PT: 3/23). On the flip side, SPX played tenacious team-defense holding Artesia to under 36 percent from the floor (FG: 15/42) and only allowing two 3-pointers (2/10). </p>   <p>PG [player_tooltip player_id='458557' first='Catalina' last='Anaya'] had a game-high 23 points for the Sartans while also recording 4 assists and 4 steals. When Anaya is on and making shots, the Sartans are tough to beat. SPX is a blue-collar squad that takes pride in forcing their opposition to work. Their defense is their best offense, meaning they do a great job of turning teams over and getting transition and fast break opportunities, especially Anaya. Forward [player_tooltip player_id='565812' first='Macy' last='Freeze'] had another solid outing with 12 points, giving SPX much needed relief points around the basket. [player_tooltip player_id='1054266' first='Bella' last='Candelaria'] did a great job of spacing the floor with her outside shot; The junior CG finished with 11 points, hitting three 3s on seven attempts. </p>   <p>Senior Kymber Beltran -- a 5'5" SG -- was the leading scorer for the Bulldogs, finishing with 15 points on 5/12 attempts. SF [player_tooltip player_id='893569' first='Jenna' last='Whitmire'] had 9 points, while C Loring Wagner had 8. Both players each recorded 8 rebounds and 3 made field-goals. </p>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Kirtland Central takes down Gallup 61-47</h2>   <p>The second 'Final Four' matchup was a 11:30 meeting between The No. 1 Broncos and the No. 4 Bengals. This was a rematch from last years (2023) 4A Championship game, that saw Gallup come away with a 57-47 victory. However, it was a different story this time as KC led the entire game -- 31:30 of 32:00 minutes -- with their biggest lead reaching 15. </p>   <p>In spite of the 14 point victory, the Broncos shot just 33.9 percent from the field, going 21/62 overall BUT overcame the pedestrian shooting performance by playing great defense. The Bengals had 27(!) turnovers and had just 9 assists altogether; A recipe for disaster for a team with aspirations of going back-to-back.</p>   <p>KC's [player_tooltip player_id='1068199' first='Allyson' last='Tsosie'] recorded a double-double putting the Broncos on her back. The talented 8th grader (that's right, 8th grader!) finished with a game-high 22 points -- 15 coming in the first half -- 12 rebounds and 6 steals. Senior [player_tooltip player_id='635350' first='Emilia' last='Clani'] chipped in with 10 points, an encouraging sign as she had just 2 points in the quarterfinals vs No. 8 Valencia. </p>   <p>Junior [player_tooltip player_id='467051' first='Rylie' last='Whitehair'] did all she could to keep Gallup in the game, logging a double-double with 16 points and 18 rebounds. The 6'0” center went 4/9 from the field and was a perfect 8/8 on free-throws.</p>   <p></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/mattmtz108/status/1768358153593176368 </div></figure>

ALBUQUERQUE -- The St. Pius X Sartans and the Kirtland Central Bulldogs advance to the 4A title game after commanding wins in the Final Four.