Dora girls, Elida boys reach finals in Elida tourney

Dec. 16—ELIDA — In a constantly changing tournament bracket due to snowy weather in the northern part of the state, Dora's girls and Elida's boys were slated to play in championship games on Saturday night in the Clearway Energy Invitational.

Dora (4-3) defeated Hagerman 60-17 on Thursday and Ruidoso 60-39 on Friday to advance. Elida lost 82-26 to Melrose, which filled in on Thursday when Reserve couldn't make it, but was advanced to the winners' side and reached the final with a 57-54 win on Friday over Petersburg, Texas.

Girls — Dora opened a 17-4 lead at the quarter against Ruidoso (2-2) and cruised behind 24 points from senior Faith Jasso and 10 from sophomore Dakota Jones. The Lady Warriors were led by 11 points from junior Bayler Pritchett.

In Thursday's tilt, freshman Karen Inge had 16 points while Jones and senior Bre'Ann Rodriguez collected 15 apiece against Hagerman (3-3).

Meantime, Elida (6-5) dropped its first two games in the event, falling to Ruidoso 45-43 on Thursday and to Hagerman 45-29 on Friday.

Against Ruidoso, sophomore Daana Lugo tallied 15 points and freshman Faith Linares added 13 as the Lady Warriors rallied with a 27-20 scoring edge in the second half. Freshmen Reatta Munsell and Kembri Norman led Elida with 19 and 14 points, respectively.

Hagerman got 17 points from senior Natalie Gomez and 12 from senior Brianna Lard in Thursday's match. For the Lady Tigers, Munsell had 10 points.

In other first-round clashes on Thursday, Reserve defeated Floyd 64-24 and Melrose pounded Bosque 61-8. On Friday, Hobbs JV downed Floyd 38-29 in the consolation bracket, while Reserve topped Bosque 49-24 in the other championship semifinal.

Boys — Dora (5-3) defeated Floyd 43-17 in Friday's consolation semifinals behind 11 points from junior Aaron Combs and eight from junior Ashton Davis. Senior Benton Cain and sophomore David Melendez each had four points for the Broncos (1-4).

On Thursday, the Coyotes dropped their opener to Hobbs JV 71-41. Irving Soto scored 12 points for the Eagles, who broke it open by outscoring Dora 26-8 in the final canto, while senior Cole Kircher had 11 points and Combs nine for Dora.

Melrose bet Elida on Thursday behind a personal-best 20 points from junior Chance Brittenum and 17 apiece from junior Brayden Eldridge and sophomore Jaxon Odom. The Tigers (2-5) were paced by 10 points from senior Seth Jimenez.

In other Thursday matchups, Evangel Christian beat Floyd 66-41 and Petersburg won over Reserve 65-39. On Friday, Reserve topped the Elida junior varsity 65-30 on the consolation side.