Cavemen & Cavegirls at COC in Artesia By Don EskinsIt's one of the top high school basketball tournaments in the state and it is taking place right here in Eddy County this week. It's the 'City of Champions Tournament' in Artesia, a site where the Cavemen and Cavegirl cage teams will be camped for the next couple of days. Play, for the three day event got underway on Thursday and will run through Saturday (Dec. 4)."It is one of the top tournaments in the state, if not the top tournament. There will be a lot of quality teams there like Rio Rancho, Los Lunas, Artesia, Hobbs and us." said Cavemen head coach John Zumbrun. "High school basketball fans who plan on attending should get to see some of the best basketball, and top players, in the state this weekend."Round 1 of the tournament got underway Thursday with the Cavemen pitted against Rio Rancho. A victory over Rio Rancho would advance the Cavemen on to a semi-final round game against Thursday's Hobbs vs Alamogordo winner. Game time for that matchup is set for 4:30 this afternoon. A loss would pit them against the loser of that game this morning at 10 a.m. Carlsbad High entered the City of Champions tournament at 2-0 following victories over Gadsden and Alamogordo. But the Caveman boss says CHS fans shouldn't get to excited about their fast start at this point in the season."The season is only two weeks old and I think we kind of snuck up on a couple of teams last week. We're still trying to find out what combinations work best for us," said Zumbrun. "However Artesia's City of Champions Tournament will be a very competitive tournament for us and we'll have a much better idea of just where we are after it." Offensively, Carlsbad High was led into this week's COC tournament by Damian Perez. The Caveman point guard put up 28 points in CHS's 68-36 victory over Gadsden and dropped in another 23 in their 62-22 win over Alamogordo."At 6'5" Damian has lots of length," said the Caveman coach. "He's definitely a force on the floor."Also scoring well for the 2-0 Cavemen have been Devin McWright, Tylan Gonzales and
Ismael Chaves.Cavegirls enter COC Tournament at 2-2The Cavegirl basketball team continued to pick up steam for this week's Artesia City of Champions Tournament with a 43-13 win over El Paso Americas on Monday night.The victory was the second straight for the Cavegirls,who started off the year at 0-2.The momentum created by the Cavegirls, in their wins overAlamogordo and El Paso Americas, has given them a boost of confidence for this week's City of Champions Tournament."We, like everybody else, will be going into this year's tournament hoping to win it all," said Cavegirl head coach Matt Enloe. "But our overall goal this week is just to get better each game."The Cavegirls opened play in this year's City of Champions tournament on Thursday with a game against the Goddard Rockets. A win over the Rockets would move them on to asemi-final round matchup with the winner of Thursday's Alamogordo vs El Paso Bel Air game this afternoon at 3 p.m. A loss would pit them against the loser of that game this morning at 8:30.Following a slow start offensively this year,the Cavegirls have averaged 50points in their wins over Alamogordo and El Paso Americas.The Cavegirls have gotten balanced scoring from Allie Myers, Morgan Boatwright, Kilea Estrada and Abbey Dugan all who have managed double digit nights in their 2-2 start on the year.Carlsbad High School Recaps Cavegirls trip El Paso Americas 43-13After a sluggish first half the Cavegirls turned on the jets to cruise past El Paso America's 43-13 on Monday night (Nov. 29)."We really struggled during the first two quarters of play but we made a few adjustments at halftime and the girls came out to dominate El Paso during third and fourth quarter play," said Cavegirl head coach Matt Enloe. Up by only five at the half, 18-13, the Cavegirls went on a 25-0 second half run, to pick up the
43-13 win.The Carlsbad girls also turned up the heat defensively during third and fourth quarter play to totally shut out El Paso Americas.Leading the way for the Cavegirls was 6'0' center Morgan Boatwright with 11 points. Recap scoring leaders: Morgan Boatwright 11, Mariana Sepulveda 6, Alexa Dugan-Alisa Bernal-Allie Myers 5, Jasmynn Gonzalez 4, Samantha Oliver 3, Abbey Dugan-Kilea Estrada 2.Cavemen bounce Alamo 62-22The Alamogordo Tigers proved to be no match for the Cavemen on Saturday (Nov. 27). The Cavemen, behind Damian Perez's 23 points rolled past the Cats 66-22.Carlsbad jumped out in front of the Alamogordo cagers 21-9 at the half and went on to outpoint the Tigers 41-13 over the final two quarters of play to grab the win.Also scoring in double figures for CHS was Ismael Chaves with 10.The victory pushed the Cavemen's record up to 2-0 on the year as they head into this week's City of Champions Tournament in Artesia.Recap leaders: Scoring-Damian Perez 23, Ismael Chaves 10, RJ Amos 8, Devin McWright 7, Tylan Gonzales 6, Jacob Mireles 3, Garren Gossett 3, Derek Sullivan 1, Xavier Rueda 1; Assists-D. Perez 3, I. Chaves-J. Mireles-D. Sullivan 2, RJ Amos-D. McWright-Evan Campos 1; Rebounds-D.Perez 7, D. McWright 6, I. Chaves 4, X. Rueda-T. Gonzales 3, J. Mireles-G. Gossett-D. Sullivan 2, R.J. Amos-E. Campos 1. Steals-D. Perez 4, R.J. Amos-D. McWright-G.Gossett-D. Sullivan-Zach Barnes 2, T. Gonzales-E. Campos-Sam Gee 1; Blocks-D. Perez 2, D. McWright-X. Rueda 1. Cavegirls top Alamo 57-28 for first win Following back to back opening season losses,the Cavegirls finally picked up their first win of the 2021-22 season with a 57-28 victory over the Alamogordo Tigers on Saturday (Nov. 27)."We've made a few changes in what we're doing this year and our girls haven't had that many practices to get it all down," said Cavegirl head coach Matt Enloe. "So having to learn new roles has been a little bit difficult for the girls. But they're finally beginning to figure things out."Kilea Estrada, who hit five three pointers, led all Cavegirl scorers with 16 points. Also scoring in double figures was Mariana Sepulveda with 10.Recap leaders: Kilea Estrada 16, Mariana Sepulveda 10, Alexa Dugan-Alisa Bernal-Abbey Dugan 6, Allie Myers-Samantha Oliver 3, Charlize Lopez 2.
Carlsbad High SchoolSports SchedulesCavemen BasketballDec. 7 @ RoswellGoddard; JV's 5:30-Varsity 7:00 p.m.Cavegirl BasketballDec. 6 vs Loving;JV's only 5:00 p.m.WrestlingDec. 11 & 12-V @LC Invite TBASwimmingDec. 11 Carlsbad Christmas Invite-TBA