Kaedynn Gonzalez scored 18 points to lead the Socorro to a 48-36 victory over Cobre at Hatch Valley High School as the Lady Warriors repeated as the District 3-3A girls basketball champions on Monday.
“The key to the win was sticking to our game plan and doing what we do best and pressing really hard,” Socorro coach Amanda Saenz said. “Staying disciplined in what we know to do was key. There were little spurts where we fell a little short on our defense, but then we figured out how to regain it.”
Those little defensive shortfalls kept Socorro (10-16, 6-1) from putting Cobre (7-19, 5-2) away for good after the Lady Indians were held to two first-quarter points.
“We just kept working together and pushing each other,” senior guard Ariana Crespin said.
The Lady Warriors weren’t on their mark shooting, and turnovers kept Cobre in striking distance, but defensive rebounding and staying stuck in their press balanced the scales.
The two teams will likely face each other again in the District 3-3A girls tournament finals, and Socorro has the home-court advantage.
Beating a team three times is often a challenging task.

No. 3 Magdalena
After ripping off a 9-0 record in District 2-1A, Magdalena suffered shocking losses to Cliff (51-48 and 31-28). The Steers struggle with consistent free-throw shooting and situational awareness in big games.
Considering Magdalena is ranked No. 3 and sports a 21-6 overall record, it’s a little hard to fathom the Steers would be having problems, but this year’s squad is young, and the waters are uncharted.
Down 31-23 with 13 seconds to play in their seeding game in Hatch Valley on Monday, Elia Cleveland interrupted an inbounds pass and bounced it off the leg of a Cobre player to regain possession of the ball. The only problem is the Steers passed the ball around the arc, and when it came to taking a shot, they drove the ball inside the arc before shooting.
The loss puts Magdalena on the road for the district tournament, but that might be good news for the Steers, who handed the Cowgirls a 43-36 loss in Cliff.
Scoring – Aliza Apache 4, Jema Ganadonegro 8, Lanisha Vicente 3, Elia Cleveland 4, Nikole Torres, Kambree Montoya, Winona Apachito, Jorianne Mirabal 9, Falene Montoya 2, Oliviah Clark, Jewel Mirabal.

Socorro Warriors
Socorro wrapped up District 3-3A basketball play with an 80-64 home victory against Cobre on Feb. 22 behind 24 points from Jacob Robinson, 17 from Andrew Handrich and 16 by William Griego.
The Warriors (9-13, 4-2) finished second in the league, but considering Socorro’s slow start, it was an excellent mark to achieve for first-year coach Ray Gonzales,
“I thought we played more relaxed and had better awareness,” Gonzales said. “We controlled the tempo of the game.”
All three of the Warriors’ top scorers were fired up in the first half, with Griego dropping three three-point bombs and Robinson pouring in 18.
The Warriors now hit the postseason district tournament.
Scoring Joshua Gutierrez, Jaquavis Brawley 8, Fernando Torres 5, Alexander Amaro 3, Jacob Robinson 24, Andrew Handrich 17, Jason Padilla 2, William Griego 16, Luke Ganadonegro 7, Brenden Chavez 3, TJ Silva, Andres Gonzales.
No. 1 Steers
The Magdalena (25-1, 10-0) closed the regular season with 68-43 and 66-43 road victories against Quemado and Cliff last week. The Steers will now play host throughout the District 2-1A tournament.
The only folks not impressed with Magdalena this season are the MaxPreps pollsters, who have the Steers ranked No. 5, three spots below Fort Sumner/House – a team Magdalena beat by 20 points.
The New Mexico high school basketball coaches’ poll is a different story, where Magdalena is ranked No. 1, and Fort Sumner is ranked No. 2.
Alamo Boys
The Cougars completed their second straight undefeated district season with an 8-0 record, and the No. 9 Cougars (18-8) will enjoy a home-court advantage for the District 3-1A tournament.
Alamo Girls
The Lady Cougars (15-11, 6-2) dropped only two District 3-3A games, and both were against Corona/Vaughn and its freshman sensation 6’ 5” Harper Dunn, who set the New Mexico season record for blocks this year with 182 blocks breaking Teige Zeller, (Los Lunas HS) 172 blocks, who did it in 2012-2013.

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor