Pirates lose to Eagles in OT

The Pirates boys’ basketball team had a shot at getting their first “W '' in districts and came up short by a point after a 72-71 overtime defeat at the hands of the Belen Eagles. The Pirates led in the first quarter 20-17 and only trailed by a bucket at the half, 37-35. In the third quarter the Pirates led 51-47 and the Eagles bounced back and outscored the Pirates 17 to 13 points to tie it up 64-64. Belen outscored the Pirates 8-7 in the overtime period to give the Pirates their fourth loss in district play. The Pirates are currently 7-13, 0-4. Prior to the Belen game the Pirates hosted the Highland Hornets (14-6, 3-0) and lost the game 88-41 on Tuesday, January 24.

Lady Pirates

The Lady Pirates went 1-1 last week after losing to the Lady Hornets of Highland High School by a score of 40-37 on Tuesday, January 24 on the road. “It was a close loss—we matched up pretty good with them—they have their post players that we keep from scoring,” said Lady Pirate head coach Douglas “Dougie” Hickman. “We were down 12 points and we cut it to three—it was a battle—we just came up short.” Raelee Rougemont led the Lady Pirates in scoring with 14 points.

The Lady Pirates hosted the Lady Eagles of Belen (712, 0-3) and defeated them 51-42 on Friday January 27. “It was a good game and a good win that we needed,” said Hickman.

High scorers for the Pirates were Delany Duran with 19-points and Ebony Chavez and Raelee Rougemont with 11 apiece.

Next up for the Pirates will be the Lady Jaguars of Valencia High School (147,1-2) “Valencia is very well coached—they have a lot of players that can score and a good post player—it will come down to our defense,” said Hickman of that upcoming game. Gametime will be 7 p.m. on Friday, February 3.