Hobbs outmuscles Lady Rams

The Hobbs girls — at the very least, longtime coach Johnny Casaus — refer to themselves as the, “Road Warriors.”

With 17 of 21 games away from Ralph Tasker Arena so far this year, the first part is undoubtedly true. With the physical, defensive performance that gave the Lady Eagles a 40-28 win over Portales, they have a great case for the latter.

“We take pride in our defense, period,” Casaus said after Hobbs (14-7) pulled away in the second half. “Our press isn’t that good, but we use it in spots and try to get something out of it.”

Evyn Gallegos scored 15 of her game-high 19 in the second half, and McKenzie Latimer’s 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter all but sealed matters against Portales (10-10), which struggled to get any shots against the Hobbs’ zone defense.

Portales shot just 5-of-9 from two-point range against a zone keying on Ram senior Macy Mitchell, who faced double- and triple-teams throughout the night.

“We watched film on her, we knew that was the go-to player,” Casaus said of Mitchell, who finished with six points on 2-of-7 shooting.

Ram coach Clay Stout said Class 5A Hobbs gives 3A Portales plenty of problems with their advantages in size and strength, plus the Lady Eagles usually get the benefit of the doubt from officiating crews because they always play a physical defense.

“They were playing solid defense; we just couldn’t get anything easy on them,” Stout said. “When they’ve got one hand on you, and they’re punching (at the ball with the other), you can’t get your inside-out game going.”

Stout thought the game turned Hobbs’ way when Geri Cox — who led Portales with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting — went to the bench with foul trouble. She missed significant first-half time after picking up two fouls in the first two minutes, then went to the bench after picking up two fouls during a 9-1 Hobbs run to start the third quarter.