Check out the top Eddy County high school basketball players prior to City of Champions
Starting Thursday, 16 high school basketball teams from New Mexico and Texas gather in Artesia for the City of Champions Classic.
The Carlsbad Cavemen and Cavegirls along with the Artesia Bulldogs and Artesia Lady Bulldogs engage in this year’s tournament. Here is a look at the top three players from all four Eddy County teams.
Carlsbad Cavemen
Head coach John Zumbrun has two seniors from last year’s team that went to the 5A playoffs.
Sam Gee is a 6-foot-3 small forward and Garren Gossett a 6-foot-5 power forward and center, along junior guard Jacob Chavarria, could provide opponents some problems during the tournament.
At 1 p.m. Thursday, the Cavemen open the tournament against Rio Rancho.
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Carlsbad Cavegirls
Head coach Matt Enloe said Carlsbad has three players who played on the 2023 varsity squad.
“We are looking for Jasmynn Gonzales and Abbey Dugan to lead us offensively,” he said.
Dugan is a 5-foot-10 junior guard and Gonzales is a 5-foot-10 junior center-power forward.
Enloe said senior Samantha Oliver has been on the varsity squad for four years and will provide needed leadership to a team that has plenty of depth this season.
At 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the Cavegirls open the tournament against El Paso Riverside.
Artesia Bulldogs
Artesia is the only Eddy County team that has had a delayed start to the season.
Bulldog head coach Michael Mondragon said Artesia is unique as some of the football student-athletes win a state championship on Saturday and then prepare for basketball season the next Monday.
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Artesia won its 32nd football state championship overall on Thanksgiving weekend. Mondragon said the Bulldogs have three football players who will play key roles when the season starts at 10 a.m. Thursday against Deming.
“We’re real blessed this year, we have seven days to prepare for our first game,” he said. “We’re just trying to get them in shape and acclimated to basketball.”
Diego Wesson is a 5-foot-10 senior guard. All-State quarterback Nye Estrada starts at point guard and fellow senior point guard David Hammond are the three Mondragon will count on during the tournament.
Artesia Lady Bulldogs
Artesia started the season Nov. 28 with a 59-30 win over Santa Teresa.
Head coach Jeff Houghtaling started Kailee Padilla, Jenna Whitmire, Kymber Beltran, Hattie Harrison and Lorin Wagner.
Despite the win, he said the Lady Bulldogs do not have a solid starting group.
“We will need a couple of more games before I could tell you really who the best mix will be,” Houghtaling said.
Based on the individual scoring from last week’s game, Whitmire, Harrison and Wagner may be the top three players for the City of Champions Classic.
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Whitmire, a sophomore wing and post player had 22 points. Harrison scored 12 points and Wagner also scored in double figures.
At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs start the tournament against Deming.
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: Top Carlsbad and Artesia basketball players in Artesia tourney
