Hobbs shapes up as the clear favorite in Class 5A girls basketball

Nov. 27—It's Hobbs, man.

These are the exact words coming from the mouth of Sandia High girls basketball Lee Kettig, who lets out an insider-type of chuckle as he says it.

How does the power elite shake out in Class 5A? We refer you to the opening sentence and Kettig's immediate observation.

The 2023-24 season begins this week, with the aforementioned Eagles, the defending Class 5A state champions, loaded up and poised to be the clear favorite.

Who can catch them? There are a few candidates, and some of the prominent challengers in New Mexico are in the metro area.

Volcano Vista, the state runner-up, and dangerous Sandia are at or near the top of the list of the teams that could seriously challenge Hobbs' supremacy. (All three are entered in January's metro tournament, which will be a fun precursor to March.)

The Hawks sport one of 5A's most talented and effective players, 6-foot senior forward Taejhuan "TT" Hill, who averaged nearly a double-double (16.4 ppg, 9.7 rpg) last season for Volcano Vista

"Her athleticism and her strength kind of set her apart from a lot of others," Hawks coach Lisa Villareal said.

Senior shooting guard Lilliana Duncan and junior point guard Mila Espinoza form one of the best and most veteran backcourts in 5A.

The Hawks also have put together a strong schedule. They open against Sandia on Thursday, will be at the Hobbs holiday tournament after Christmas, and are traveling to Phoenix earlier in December for an elite event. Plus metros.

"Hobbs is the team everyone is chasing," Villareal said. Volcano Vista and Hobbs have met in each of the last four 5A championship games. Hobbs has reached the 5A final six straight seasons.

Sandia returns four starters, including its junior trio of fantastic 5-9 guards — Sydney Benally (the second-leading scorer in 5A last season at 25 a game), Hope Giddings and Audri Wright. Benally's younger sister, Kaiyah, an eighth-grader, already has a Division 1 offer and joins what is already an experienced, talented group. Sandia's bench offers some quality depth. An early test comes Thursday against Volcano Vista.

"I believe they understand their potential, and they know what they have to work on," Kettig said.

Chief among Sandia's issues has been an inability to take down district rival La Cueva, which is another team that is expected to contend.

"Until we're able to experience some success against them," Kettig said of the Bears, "they're a massive threat to derail us."

Eva Love, a 5-9 senior guard Eva Love and an Air Force Academy signee, leads a solid La Cueva squad.

Sophomore forward Jordyn Dyer, guard Toni Lucero and point guard Kiauna Romero are the Bears' other top returners. La Cueva lost by two points to Hobbs in the state semifinals.

"We have the talent. If we get a little bit lucky, we can definitely make a run at this thing," La Cueva coach Marisa Cogan said.

That district, 2-5A, should be a beast, with Sandia, La Cueva and Farmington; the Scorpions are potentially a top-five caliber group.

To that end, Farmington, led by senior shooting guard Kapiolani Anitielu, and Clovis (a team several coaches believe will be a 5A dark horse and potential top-eight seed) are among the other top, non-metro 5A contenders. Las Cruces, which reached the state semifinals last season, graduated its two best players as the Bulldawgs look to retool.

As for Hobbs, several of the Eagles' most important contributors, like guards Bhret Clay and Brynn Hargrove, and forward Kyndle Cunningham — all three are juniors — give Hobbs a fantastic base to build around. None of the Eagles' best players, in fact, are seniors.

Volcano Vista is the clear team to beat from District 1, with Rio Rancho and Cleveland probably leading the chase pack.

Rio Rancho's second-leading scorer, 5-8 senior Makenna Lee, is a double-double type of player for the Rams, who have a base of promising young talent on which to improve, coach Lori Mabrey said.

Cleveland has four starters and nine returners back, and depth that gives coach Susan Kubala an abundance of lineup options.

"I think it depends on how healthy we stay," Kubala said. "I think we'll be extremely competitive."

Cibola and Atrisco Heritage did not qualify for state out of 1-5A last season.

Eldorado and West Mesa are part of the chasing pack in District 2-5A. Both qualified for the postseason last season. The Mustangs have been decimated by three ACL injuries to key players, putting them in a tough spot.

The Eagles feature New Mexico's best and most recruited player, 5-9 junior guard Bella Hines, the state's leading scorer. She averaged 30 points and nine rebounds last season, but Eldorado didn't quite have the supporting cast around her. Coach Gary Ellis believes with four starters back and six seniors on the roster, they can give Hines the support she needs to help possibly get Eldorado to the Pit for the second week of the playoffs in March.

"We're definitely better this year than we were last year," Ellis said, adding, "That's definitely been our biggest goal over the summer. The teams that figured us out last year wanted us to beat them with everybody else. It'll be a lot more difficult to do that this (season)."

District 5-5A should be an interesting league. Manny Vigil, a former head coach at Valencia and Alamogordo, has taken over at Los Lunas, which has a very young group that will look to use its speed to its advantage, Vigil said.

Teri Morrison is the new Albuquerque High coach; the Bulldogs lost a couple of key players to graduation, including Gatorade Player of the Year Leilani Love. Former Menaul coach Sharon Max has joined the AHS coaching staff as an assistant.

It'll be a young but "very strong basketball team," Morrison said. Finding offense with some of the new faces will be key for AHS, a team that is headed for Alaska next month for a tournament in Juneau. But the Bulldogs, with a deep group of guards, will look to run whenever possible and push the pace. "I feel we'll surprise some people," Morrison said.

Class 4A

St. Pius and Hope Christian both reached the state semifinals last season; the Sartans are expected to make another run at it this season.

Outstanding senior guard Alyssa Maes, who was all-district in 5-4A last season, is recovering from a knee injury and is expected back soon, but will miss the first few weeks, St. Pius coach Brio Rode said.

"I like this squad," Rode said. "We have a good shot to be a top team again."

Valencia reached the state quarterfinals last season and bring back a couple of crucial pieces in 5-3 senior guard Azalia Malizia 5-5 junior guard Jadyn Montoya, who both averaged double figures in points last season. But the Jaguars also are in transition, since new coach Ray Montoya was hired less than a month before the first practice. He was coaching boys basketball at Manzano.

Highland will be a smaller, quicker team, especially after some of its size transferred to Albuquerque High. All-district guard Rebecca Neal is among the top returners for the Hornets and coach Lonnie Neal. Highland also has a young roster.

In District 6-4A, Albuquerque Academy might be the favorite. The Chargers have some all-district size returning in senior Noelani Montoya, who is 5-10, and 5-8 sophomore Addie Spratley.

"What we need to do is establish our guards," coach Taryn Bachis said. Academy was senior-dominant at that position last season.

Valley has good experience returning in this district, led by 5-5 junior guard Giana Roybal, and could challenge for the 6-4A title as well. Hope Christian graduated all its point production, so the Huskies will be a team needing to find their offensive legs. Savanah Sanchez, the star of Hope's soccer team, will be on the court this year, and she gives Hope some size as a 5-10 senior wing.

Gallup beat Kirtland Central in the 4A state final eight months ago. Artesia and Espanola Valley, plus the Bengals, Broncos, St. Pius and Academy, all figure to be part of the chase.

Classes 3A/2A/1A

Sandia Prep was the lone metro 3A program to make state a season ago; the Sundevils reached the quarterfinals but graduated their best player and (by far) their leading scorer.

Former Cleveland coach Felicia Boatman has taken over the Menaul program. Her husband, Gary, is the Panthers' boys varsity head coach.

"We're gonna contend for sure," Boatman said. Only two seniors graduated off last season's squad, and are led by senior guards Elaina Ortiz and point guard Charli Boatman.

Menaul is an experienced team with good size, coach Boatman said.

"I'm excited," she said. "This group is fun."

In Class 1A, the co-op Evangel Christian/Oak Grove Classical Academy was the only one of the metro's programs in that division to qualify for state last season.