Final Four: Top Performers Part One

The semifinal rounds for the 2025 New Mexico Girls State Basketball Championships have come to an end. The Final Four for both the 5A and 4A Class, was held at 'The Pit', home to the UNM Lobos. As for the 3A Class, the Final Four was held at the Rio Rancho Event Center.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">5A Class</h2>    Benally's game-high 24 points helped propel No. 2 Sandia into the 5A Title Game for the second consecutive season. What's more, the 5'10" point-guard was named the Gatorade Player of the Year prior to tip-off. Benally has now won the award in back-to-back seasons.     Kaiyah, the younger sibling of the two Benally's, balled out in her own right as she logged 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 7 steals for the Matadors.     Dyer was the only Bear to reach double-figures for No. 6 La Cueva. The junior shooting-guard finished with a team-high 11 points and 4 rebounds.     Air Force commit, [player_tooltip player_id='458555' first='Bhret' last='Clay'], had a game-high 18 points, on 6/11 shooting for the No. 1 Eagles, who are headed back to the 5A Title game for the second time in three years.     Hargrove put up 13 points, 5 assists and 3 steals for the top-seeded Eagles as they cruised past the Cavegirls. The 5'6" NMHU commit went 5/9 from the floor which includes going 2/5 from the three-point line.     For the third straight game, Dugan was the top scorer for No. 12 Carlsbad, whose 'Cinderella run' ended at the hands of No. 1 Hobbs, 71-38.   The 5'9" shooting-guard tallied a team-high 12 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.    <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">4A Class</h2>    Standout center, [player_tooltip player_id='467051' first='Rylie' last='Whitehair'], dominated both ends of the court as No. 2 Gallup held on to win, 69-66 over No. 3 Portales. The 6'2" senior, ultimately finished with a double-double, posting a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. Moreover, Whitehair also had 3 steals and 3 blocks!     Tsosie, was just as vital in regard to helping the Bengals advance to the 4A Championship. In the Final Four vs the Rams, Tsosie had a steller performance with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.     Fulfer did all she could, delivering some BIG TIME shots for the Rams in the Final Four. In the end, the senior small-forward had 23 points, a team-high. Furthermore, Fulfer went 6/13 from distance, connecting on some very DEEP three-pointers .     Freshman standout [player_tooltip player_id='1068199' first='Allyson' last='Tsosie'] recorded a double-double but it was not with your typical points and rebounds. The 5'8" small-forward finished with 13 points and 11 steals, leading the Broncos past the Jaguars and into the 4A Title Game.     In what ended up being her final career game, senior [player_tooltip player_id='391108' first='Jadyn' last='Montoya'] put up a game-high 18 points for the Jaguars. The savvy shooting-guard went 5/12 from the field which includes going 2/6 from behind the arc. Lastly, Montoya also went 6/8 from the foul-line.    <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">3A Class</h2>    Over in the 3A class, No. 1 West Las Vegas defeated No. 3 Santa Fe Indian, 35 -33 behind Pacheco's game-high 15 point, 7 rebound performance.     Lewis, a 5'8" small-forward, battled to the very end for the No. 3 Braves as she registered a team-high 12 points and 7 rebounds vs the No. 2 Dons.   Unfortunately, SFIS fell short by two points, 35-33.    *Statistics via NMAA*

The semifinal rounds for the 2025 New Mexico Girls State Basketball Championships have come to an end. The Final Four for both the 5A and 4A Class, was held at 'The Pit', home to the UNM Lobos. As for the 3A Class, the Final Four was held at the Rio Rancho Event Center.