Local

The Los Alamos Hilltopper girls tennis team won the El Paso (Texas) Chapin tournament this past weekend.
The Hilltoppers held off Mesilla Valley Christian, which finished as the runner-up in El Paso, to claim the team title. It was the first win of the season in four outings for the Hilltopper girls.
No. 1 single Gillian Hsieh-Ratliff topped Patty Borunda of Mesilla Valley Christian to get to the final of that draw, topping Borunda 6-2, 6-2.
Also for Los Alamos, Colleen Fitzsimmons and teammate Susanna Lucido won in the No. 1 doubles draw, defeating Mesilla Valley’s Jenna Coyle/Maddie Andersson 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to claim the title.
Also at the Chapin tournament, the Hilltopper boys placed third in team competition.
 

ALBUQUERQUE – St. Pius X guard Natalie Zamora was all but invisible in the first half of Tuesday’s quarterfinal girls basketball game.
But Zamora turned into a specter that haunted the Española Valley Sundevils in the fourth quarter.
Zamora scored 22 points in the fourth quarter alone, spearheading the St. Pius effort to break open what had been a tight ballgame throughout. Behind Zamora, the No. 4-seeded Sartans went on an impressive 16-1 run to start the fourth quarter and earn a 71-58 victory at The Pit.
The loss by Española Valley ended a solid season under new head coach Oliver Torres.
Española Valley and St. Pius traded leads 11 times in the first three quarters Tuesday, but St. Pius held a 2-point edge at the break and a 3-point advantage after three quarters.
Then, to start the fourth quarter, Zamora buried a long-range 3-pointer to get the Sartans rally going.
“They were being really aggressive,” Zamora said of the Sundevil defense. “But we were really calm. We all made good decisions.”
Along with Zamora’s big quarter, the Sundevils struggled to keep control of the basketball, particularly around the timeline, leading to several quick points on the other end.

The Hilltoppers and Los Lunas’ Tigers squared off in the quarterfinal round of the Class 4A girls basketball tournament.

The Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team broke open a tight ballgame in a big way Friday night in Deming.
With about 7 minutes remaining in the game, the Hilltoppers held a slim 2-point edge over Deming’s Wildcats.
From there, Los Alamos outscored Deming 24-9 to win going away and punch its ticket to the state Class 4A quarterfinals.
With that push, 9th-seeded Los Alamos bounced 8th-seeded Deming from the playoffs, 62-45.
This will be the first trip the Hilltoppers have made to the quarterfinals in three seasons. Their last appearance in The Pit was in 2010. They were toppled in the opening round by Grants on the road in each of the last two seasons.
Los Alamos led the entire second half but couldn’t shake Deming.
Both teams had trouble converting from the field in Friday’s game but Los Alamos dominated on the glass, outrebounding Deming 46-31.
The Hilltoppers (17-12) held the Wildcats to just one point for the first four minutes of the game, but the Wildcats (17-10) would rally late in the quarter and lead 16-13.