Pirates Lose to Valencia, 56-38

  • Dominic Sanchez, 1, a senior on the Grants High Boys’ Basketball team takes it to the hole at a recent home game. The Pirates are 7-14,0-5 as they look at closing out district play in the next two weeks. The Lady Pirates are 9-13,14 as they also are in the home stretch of district play. Franklin Romero - CC
    Dominic Sanchez, 1, a senior on the Grants High Boys’ Basketball team takes it to the hole at a recent home game. The Pirates are 7-14,0-5 as they look at closing out district play in the next two weeks. The Lady Pirates are 9-13,14 as they also are in the home stretch of district play. Franklin Romero - CC

“Valencia was a tough game throughout—we only outscored them in the fourth quarter—they led the entire way,” said Grants High School Boys’ Basketball Head Coach Landon Chavez. “In the last game they had three players with 20 points—this game we found a way to stop one of the three-but another stepped up in his absence.” The Valencia Jaguars was led by Ali Abdullah with 25 points and nine rebounds followed by Damien Estrada with 21 points and eight rebounds. The Pirates were led by John”JJ” Horacek with 17 points and five rebounds and four three point shots. Boudy Melonas had 10 points and Coudy Melonas had nine points. The Pirates drop to 17-4, 0-5 and will take on the St. Pius Spartans (14-7,4-1) on the road on Tuesday, February 7.

“St. Pius will be a difficult matchup as we face off with three players 6’4”, and size has been our Achilles Heel all season. We don’t have anyone over 6’ 1 said Chavez. “Nonetheless, we plan to try to neutralize their bigs and keep them off the boards—we will need to push in transition and pressure their guards.”

The Lady Pirates 9-13, 2-3 lost a recent home game on February 3 by a score of 56-38 to the Lady Jaguars of Valencia High School (167,3-2). Next up for the Lady Pirates will be an away game against the Lady Spartans of St. Pius on Tuesday, February 7.

Cibola County Round-Up

The Lady Hawks are in the driver's seat of district 12A after a commanding 5533 defeat of district rival, the Dulce Hawks (16-6, 2-1) last Friday, February 3 in an away game. “Our plans against Dulce was to apply pressure early on and try to force them to play our game - which is scoring transition,” said Daryl Mariano, head coach of the Lady Hawks basketball team. Dulce was first in the district, after this loss they dropped to second in the district after Laguna-Acoma. Next up for the Lady Hawks will be a game against Navajo Pine (4-19,0-3) on the road. “I feel that our chances of entering the district tournament as the top seed are great,” said Mariano.

The Lady Hawks are sixth in New Mexico Overtime Sports Coaches’ Poll. They are also ranked 11th in the state in the most recent Maxpreps.com standings for 2A girls’ basketball.

The Laguna-Acoma Boys’ Basketball team is currently 6-16, 1-2 after a recent loss to Dulce High School by a score 84-77. Their next game will be Navajo Pine (6-16, 0-3) in an away game.

The GHS girl’s wrestling team competed in Girls Regional 1 Championship and placed 26th.