Artesia girls fall short to St. Pius X in state basketball 4A semifinals
Attempts by the Artesia High School girls basketball team to advance to the 4A state championship fell short Thursday in Albuquerque.
The No. 3 seed was defeated by the No. 2 seed Albuquerque St. Pius X 61-41 in the semifinals of the tournament.
Artesia’s last appearance in the Final Four was in 1999 — the team's first, and only, championship was in 1977.
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A recap of the game
The Sartans led throughout the game, as Artesia stayed close with St. Pius in the opening quarter.
The Sartans led 16-12 at the end of the first period. St. Pius’ offense exploded in the second quarter outscoring Artesia 24-8.
“We came out excited. We were happy to be in the semifinals. Thought we had a good game plan and thought we executed (it) fairly well,” said Artesia head coach Jeff Houghtaling.
He said six 3-pointers by the Sartans gave the Albuquerque school the edge in the opening half.
Artesia kept the scores close in the second half, but the efforts were not enough as St. Pius advanced to the state title game Friday night.
“Second half I believe we played even with them. We are going to go back and take a look at it (game footage) and we evaluate the season I think we’ll be able to evaluate that second quarter where they got hot and hit some shots and we didn’t match it,” Houghtaling said.
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Artesia says goodbye to key seniors
Thursday’s game was the final one for guard Kymber Beltran, post Abby Hauschild and post Lorin Wagner.
The 6-foot Wagner broke a record this season that stood for 45 years.
She broke the single-season and career rebounding record in Artesia’s win over Lovington in the championship of the District 4-4A postseason tournament.
Wagner had 12 rebounds against the Wildcats and is now the leader in career and single-season rebounds.
Houghtaling said Artesia could not have made it to the semifinals without the leadership of the outgoing seniors.
Players to watch for the 2025 season
Houghtaling has some experienced players expected to return next season.
Sophomore guards Kailee Padilla and Jenna Whitmire saw plenty of playing time during the season.
More: Artesia's Beltran and Wagner make quick turnaround from volleyball to basketball
Padilla was Artesia’s leading scorer with 19 points in the 61-33 opening playoff round victory over Silver High School March 8.
Junior post Hattie Harrison played key roles for Artesia underneath giving Wagner some rest when needed.
“Those three kids’ effort is fantastic,” Houghtaling said.
He said Padilla, Whitmire and Harrison have playoff experience to guide the team back to Albuquerque in 2025 for another run at a state title.
“Because we came up here last year and made it to the quarters (final) they were with that group as babies. This year they made it to the semifinals and next year when they’re a little bit older we’ll get one more game under our belt here at the (University of New Mexico) Pit,” Houghtaling said.
Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Artesia girls lose to St Pius in 4A state championship game
