Post stat-lines here.

Monday

Bailey Beene, Goddard - 17 points and 7 rebounds vs. Andrews (TX)

Anyssa Rodriguez, Loving - 9 points vs. Artesia JV

Who do you have?

New rankings this upcoming week on Monday and i've already looked over most of what I got. My question is what do you got? 5A was easy. 3A was easy. 2A and 1A I still need to review. 4A is a mess I dug myself in. Haha!

Share what teams should move up/down.

My 4A conundrum. Pojoaque takes a hit. That's easy. The other top 3 move up. How far does Gallup move up? And what about that top 12?

This is the field I want to know how to rank: St. Pius, Miyamura, Hope, Portales, Belen, Espanola, Valley, and Artesia,

Who deserves the reward for 5A? Carlsbad going 3-0 or La Cueva making the Metro finals?
How far should Centennial drop?

In small school hoops, who is the new number one?
Logan lost to Melrose.
Cliff lost to Animas.
Tatum got worked in the semis and 3rd place game.
Melrose got the EPAC finals.
Pine Hill???

Texico stays #1 in 2A, right? How should the order fall after that with Clayton, Pecos, Magdalena, Penasco, Mescalero, Dulce, Estancia, Lordsburg, and Alamo?

What do you have for 2019? Best and worst case scenario on wins and losses

Four Week Check-In. What has changed for you since week 4?

This is just to serve as a quick announcement and kind of a "Looking Ahead" at the upcoming week schedule as far as threads go.

Today's rankings are out so be sure to check them out here:: WEEK 8 RANKINGS.

Share any important games to make of note this week in the Top Games To See and any notable storylines for teams or players moving forward this week in the STORYLINES thread.

I am looking for one more bracket for the week in the last regular season Tourney Talk and Brackets thread.

On Tuesday I'm aiming for at least one Pit Stop review (or either Class 5A or 4A) where NMpreps.com will take a look at early seeding and selection. We'll probably have a clearer picture with all the head-to-head games we've been having. By the end of the week all the Pit Stops for Class 5A through 1A should be up just before district play starts for everyone next week.

Wednesday, as a player focus day, I'll be sharing a different player post that hopefully some of ya'll will enjoy and help contribute to through the rest of the season. Also, we'll need some updates on any notable player injuries or return from injuries that may impact teams' moving forward.

Thursday through Saturday of course keep a look out for the "Daily Dimes" (as Grine likes to put them): Outlet Pass, Fastbreak, and Swish.

And of course, please share scores and stat lines on the weekly Scoreboard and Top Players and Performances threads.

Last thing, TONIGHT Cimarron at Raton for an early week 1A revenge game. The last time these two met at Cowbell when Cimarron put the hurt on Raton 82-61 and then another tournament meeting at Clayton's Orange and Black where Cimarron got another win, 41-29. This time though it's at Raton and they're coming off a big win against Des Moines. Cimarron has no practice after making the drive home from Cliff on Saturday. All I'm saying is it could get interesting.

PLUS! Remember that postponed Gallup-Los Lunas game the day after New Year's Day? Well it was rescheduled and the game goes down tonight in Gallup! How about that for some early week 4A action? Don't forget Los Lunas got the win in Los Lunas' tournament in the championship, 64-50 and Gallup is coming off a big win over Pojoaque. Old district rivalry but on a Monday night? Hmm, might be a trap for Gallup.

Have a great week!

Post your predictions and storylines to watch for this week.

Poat here

Post your reactions and takeaways here for Week Seven.

What do you have?

Post your bold takes here.

Post Scores here

What do you have for this week?

PORTALES SHOOTOUT

Thursday 1/10
3:30 PM - Carlsbad vs. Pojoaque Valley
6:30 PM - Portales vs. Gallup

Friday 1/11
3:30 PM - Carlsbad vs. Gallup
6:30 PM - Portales vs. Pojoaque Valley

Saturday 1/12
2:00 PM - Pojoaque Valley vs. Gallup
5:00 PM - Portales vs. Carlsbad

Who do you have this weekend?

NMPreps.com GAME OF THE WEEK
No. 1 West Mesa vs. No. 4 La Cueva - APS Metro Championship
West Mesa (12-0) and La Cueva (11-0) are set to clash in what will be the first of two and potentially three or four meetings this season. West Mesa burned their way through much of 5A and a win will not only keep them perfect, but will be their third straight Metro Championship title. La Cueva on the other hand has had a number of close wins against lesser opponents (relative to West Mesa's close games) but have still managed to win out which is what matters. Both teams boasts some of the best small-ball lineups in the state. West Mesa with Maiah Rivas, Esperanza Varoz, and Emily Burk. La Cueva with Kaya Ingram, Rachael Hathoot, and Deja Sandoval. The difference will likely be in who contributes beyond their starting three guards. West Mesa has promising talent in Cece Barela and Jaden Castellano and that may be the difference in this game. So be sure to get out to Volcano Vista High School for the metro finals at 4PM.

No. 9 Volcano Vista vs. No. 10 Rio Rancho - APS Metro Third Place Game
The third place game will tip off at noon at Volcano Vista (9-3), and will feature the talents of Jaelyn Bates and her fellow Lady Hawks taking on Laura Gutierrez and the Lady Rams of Rio Rancho (10-5). In what is basically a home game for Volcano Vista, it'll feature the two aforementioned stars of their teams possibly dueling in a race to 50. Again, keep tabs on the contributions from Rio Rancho's Julia Chavez and Kelsie Hawkins and Volcano Vista's Natalia Chavez and Kennedy Brown.

(5A) No. 6 Cleveland vs. (4A) No. 4 Highland - APS Metro Fifth Place Game
Cleveland (12-3) is off one of their most dominant wins this season holding Sandia to only 33 points. Now they'll definitely have a tougher matchup against the Crawford sisters of Highland (7-4) especially since, as we've seen almost all season, they struggle in guarding post players. This will be interesting to see how Coach Susan Kubala game plans for the frontcourt duo and how Coach Lonnie Neal will make adjustments as the game goes on.

No. 1 Pojoaque Valley vs. No. 9 Gallup - Portales Shootout Second Place Game
Gallup (9-4) had an off game against Carlsbad both offensively and defensively. Pojoaque Valley (14-1) had an ugly but wild game that had tough calls and a clutch game winner. Both games showed a lot of toughness on both teams facing adversity. Saturday's game will be the toughest of the tournament for these two because I feel like Friday was their respective "bad game" of the tournament. I'm afraid of making a prediction because I feel like all the possibilities are likely given what I've seen from these two teams this season. This much I know: Pojoaque can play from behind and play quality defense, but struggles in closing games with the lead. Gallup can play from behind by scoring in bunches and playing a constant up-and-down pace but struggles defensively in the halfcourt. They both match up fairly well. This could seriously be a preview of what's to come in March. I think the team that controls the boards and limits second chance opportunities wins. It'll be a race to 50. First team to 50 wins.

Tournament Championships

EPAC at ENMU - (2A) No. 1 Texico vs. (1A) No. 5 Melrose - Tip-off set for 6PM

"M" Mountain Invite at Socorro - (3A) No. 11 Socorro vs. (1A) No. 7 Quemado - Tip-off set for 5PM

Portales Shootout - (5A) No. 3 Carlsbad vs. (4A) No. 11 Portales - A Carlsbad win or loss still makes them champions via head-to-head - Tip-off set for 5PM

Bean Valley Conference Tournament at Estancia - (3A) No. 4 Tucumcari vs. (2A) No. 9 Estancia - Tip-off set for 5:30 PM

Rehoboth Christian Tournament - Rehoboth vs. Winner of Navajo Pine/Zuni - Tip-off set for 4:30 PM

21st Annual Cuba Invitational - (4A) Bloomfield vs. (3A) Cuba - Tip-off set for 6PM


Share any other notable Saturday games below.

What games are you at this week?

Pretty cool to see NM represented by Sergio Rivas and Luis Barraza in this Year's MLS Combine and Draft pool.

https://sbisoccer.com/2019/01/sbi-2019-mls-draft-big-board-version-1-0

FRIDAY SCHEDULE
Animas (8-2) at Lordsburg (1-7)
ATC (1-4) at Roy (2-3)
Atrisco Heritage (9-2) vs Cleveland (13-1)
Aztec (4-8) at Lubbock Christian (15-6)
Belen (7-7) at Hobbs (12-5)
Centennial (5-9) at Alamogordo (3-12)
Cibola (1-9) at Highland (5-4)
Clayton (8-8) at Maxwell (7-1)
Cliff (4-7) at Hot Springs (10-2)
Clovis Christian (3-6) at Cloudcroft (5-7)
Foothill (2-2) at Penasco (2-8)
Fort Sumner (8-4) at Logan (11-2)
Gadsden (8-2) at Carlsbad (8-6)
Grants (7-7) at Albuquerque Academy (2-6)
Hope Christian (5-6) at West Mesa (6-5)
Jal (5-4) at Eunice (5-5)
Las Cruces (15-0, 1-0) at Deming (6-7, 0-0)
Los Alamos (2-11) at Portales (8-5)
Onate (10-5) at Mayfield (7-8)
Pojoaque Valley (5-9) at Capital (10-3)
Reserve (6-4) at Pine Hill (3-11)
Rio Grande (4-5) at Albuquerque (1-7)
Sandia Prep (6-6) at Navajo Prep (10-4)
Silver (11-2) at St. Michael's (8-6)
Springer (6-4) at Questa (1-7)
St. Pius X (7-5) at Taos (9-5)
Texico (11-2) at Melrose (9-1)
Trinity Christian (13-12) at Lovington (5-8)
Valley (4-5) vs Del Norte (5-5)
Vaughn (7-0) vs Tatum (8-4)
Volcano Vista (9-1) at Eldorado (8-2)
Walatowa Charter (4-1) at Cuba (6-5)
West Las Vegas (4-6) at Shiprock (3-9)

APS METRO CHAMPIONSHIPS


FRIDAY HEADLINES
Top Four Games: Atrisco vs Cleveland; Eldorado vs Volcano Vista; Navajo Prep vs Sandia Prep. The APS Metro Championship semifinals has the potential to feature four teams that could earn a top four seed in the State tournament. All four are ranked in the top-5 in our NMPreps.com's week 7 rankings. Volcano Vista has yet to drop a game to a New Mexico team and feature a 9-1 record.

This will be the second game between the two programs with Volcano Vista taking the first 79-77; since then Volcano Vista has won games by a margin of 35.6 points and coming off a 58-point win over West Mesa on Tuesday night.

Atrisco and Cleveland provides us a rematch of the 2018 6A State Championship game from March. Atrisco Heritage took a 53-49 win and look to extend their current four game win streak. Cleveland has rebounded from their January 3rd loss to Santa Fe, with three wins leading into this contest. Both play in District 1-5A this season and is the first of a potential three more games against each other.

Navajo Prep and Sandia Prep are both ranked at the top of Class 3A basketball this season. Navajo Prep one of the first teams to reach 10 wins this season in 3A are playing in their first resume like game and also coming into the contest after a "bad" loss to Dulce on January 8th, 52-47. Sandia Prep winners of 2 of the last three and coming off a loss to St. Pius X, 53-42, earlier this week.

Bubble Games: Gadsden vs Carlsbad. Both programs are floating around the 14-18 range as of today. A win here doesn't help but a loss will definitely hurt them, placing both in a district holds my fate run. Gadsden is coming off a surprising close loss to undefeated and top ranked Las Cruces, 56-55 (OT). Carlsbad earned a bubble win late last weekend over Centennial and started this week with a win over Eddy County rival Artesia, 71-58.

Resume Games: Valley vs Del Norte; St. Pius X vs Taos; Onate vs Mayfield; Fort Sumner vs Logan. Valley and Del Norte are fighting for a top-8 slot in the state tournament. Del Norte owns the edge but enter the contest on a four game losing streak with a pair of losses to Rio Grande, a team at the bottom of 5A.

Onate is looking to make a case for a top-5 seed and a district championship or runner up is necessary a slip up to bubble Mayfield could hold them out of that conversation. Ricky Lujan (Onate) vs Jorrell Saterfield (Mayfield) is worth the price of admission.

St. Pius X and Taos are two teams that we can learn more about and will with this game. Taos is coming off a resume loss to Silver last week and SPX enters on a two game win streak but this one will show us more.

Criteria Games: Texico vs Melrose; Silver vs St. Michael's

What are some picks this week?

Plenty of hoops statewide as the Metro tournament resumes along with some 5A district play in the south. Here's a few key matchups you should watch.

NMPreps.com GAME OF THE NIGHT
No. 4 La Cueva vs. No 4. Volcano Vista (Metro Tournament Semifinals)
A great top-ten matchup in the semis. The youthful buckets of Volcano Vista (9-2) take on the "elders" of La Cueva (10-0) . Kaya Ingram against Jaelyn Bates. Though I doubt that's how the straight matchup will be, the defensive matchups should be intriguing. Deja Sandoval and Rachael Hathoot will definitely serve their defensive expertise in this game to try to contain not just Bates, but 5'10" guard Natalia Chavez and Kennedy Brown. I think experience will win over this time around, but the scoring talents of Volcano Vista won't go unnoticed.

YOUTH IN REVOLT - No. 5 Sandia vs. No. 6 Cleveland (Metro Tournament)
This is maybe the most intriguing matchup for Friday night in the metro tournament just based on who will be guarding who through the game. You have a great guard lineup in Alycia Harriott, Kaylee Caldwell, and Desiree Forster leading Cleveland. And then you have the talented youth in Viane Cumber and Marisa Griego along with senior Sapirah Broussard leading the way for Sandia. I'm looking forward to seeing if Griego ends up guarding either Caldwell or Harriott (Caldwell and Griego have two of the best defensive footwork I've seen so far this season while applying defensive ball pressure). Even better, if Caldwell or Harriott guard Broussard. Meanwhile, Cleveland's Isabelle Valdez and Jordan Barnard have to defend Sandia's Cumber on the perimeter or inside, while who's left guarding Sandia's Autumn Gonzales. While on the other end Sandia can't help off of Cleveland's Shawntae Salazar who is almost a guaranteed three from the arc. It's gotta be a fun one to see how each team counters the other. (This game is secretly my game of the night but just keep that between us.)

INTER-TRIBAL REMATCH - No. 6 Mescalero Apache at No. 8 Alamo Navajo
The last time these two teams met it was in the Mescalero Tournament semifinals. Now, Alamo Navajo (8-3 )gets one back at home against Mescalero Apache (9-3) and will try to win one to prove they're legit in Class 2A. Key players for the matchup will be Lady Cougars' Calista Vicente and the Lady Chief's Fallon Velasquez.

'DAWGS & 'CATS - No. 15 Deming at No. 19 Las Cruces (District 3-5A)
Las Cruces is coming off a dominant win against Gadsden while Deming is looking to bounce back from their loss to Silver. This is a true 5A test for Deming against a lower-tier Las Cruces team that looks primed for district. Deming has a size advantage with Vanessa Garcia and Adriana Giron. Las Cruces will also have their hands full with the freshman guard Harmanie Dominguez who has had an outstanding season thus far and look to start off their district season with a win.
It has a been a big season of firsts for Deming with possibly their first ever win over Roswell and now a chance to nab their first ever win against Las Cruces dating back to December 2006 (that's as far back as the Maxpreps records go).

TEMPOS COLLIDE - (5A) No. 6 Carlsbad vs. (4A) No. 9 Gallup (Portales Shootout)
One team excels at the halfcourt game while the other excels at 32 minutes of up-and-down the floor pace. Gallup played with confidence and energy when they played Portales. They matched up well with their interior post players too in Jordan Joe and Hailey Long. Now, they'll have a tough Carlsbad team that likes the slower pace and showed they can play from behind if they can generate turnovers and get to the free throw line like they did against Pojoaque. It'll take more than Boswell to get this win for Cbad. Look for an early establishment of Kaliyah Montoya on the interior to start off the game.

TENACIOUS D-FENSE - (1A) No.4 Tatum vs. (2A) No.1 Texico (EPAC Semifinals)
Though this is not the championship game, it does serve as a worthy tribute. 1A Tatum (9-2) and 2A Texico (10-3) have already met prior in a 45-31 win for the Lady Wolverines. I think this game will start off a little slower than usually but I like Texico again but this time a little closer on a neutral floor. I won't count out the Tatum Lady Coyotes as they showed they play relentless full court pressure on anyone no matter the score or time. Texico will be led by Baylee Sours, Ashley Hill, and Sydney Furrow. Tatum will look to Celeste Jimenez, Maddy Rice, and Sarah Coombes.

PREP SCHOOL DUEL - Navajo Prep at Sandia Prep
Navajo Prep (7-7) has been up and down this season but they'll head back to the metro area to face a young Sandia Prep (4-5) with a new head coach in Jerome Romero. Sundevil sophomore Destiny Archibald will try to lead her team against Navajo Prep's own sophomore transfer Aiona Johnson.

INTER-TRIBAL REMATCH II - (3A) No. 14 Zuni vs. (2A) Navajo Pine (Rehoboth Christian Tournament Semifinal)
Zuni (6-3) is on the right side of .500 but don't have any big wins and have struggled against lower-tier opponents. Navajo Pine (2-9) has a stellar scorer in sophomore Jordan Louis who is averaging 25 points per game including three straight 30+ games against Thoreau (twice) and Santa Fe Indian. They've faced each other already at Zuni with a win for the Lady Thunderbirds. Louis might have to score 50 to get the win.

KNIGHTS v. TROJANS - No. 8 Mayfield at No. 13 Onate (District 3-5A)
Both teams look to try to extend their district lead Friday night as both came away with wins on on the road Tuesday night. Onate (8-6) with the big win over Centennial will look once again to use their size advantage over Mayfield (10-5) by using Estrella Avalos and Sydney Hobbs. But the defensive pressure and small ball lineup Mayfield uses might prove to be too much with senior Alize Ruiz and junior Laila Flores. If Onate can limit their turnovers and force Mayfield to take tough shots, it'll be close. Otherwise, I think Mayfield will make this game ugly quick.

Share any other intriguing Friday games below.

What would you like to see in NMHS football?

Who do you have? Regardless of grad year or classification they play in which players should be considered

Who plays in the semifinals and state championship games next season. Any score predictions and state championship picks