Prep notes: Eldorado basketball sophomore Hines' 51-point game nears 2 records
Feb. 22—Eldorado High School sophomore Bella Hines has repeatedly raised the scoring bar for herself this season. On Tuesday night, she achieved rarefied air.
The state's leading scorer poured in a career-best 51 points for Eldorado in a 79-75 home victory over West Mesa in the District 2-5A basketball tournament.
It is the highest-scoring game by an Albuquerque girl since Sandia Prep's Madie Trainor had 59 points in a game for the Sundevils in January of 2017.
And while Hines' 51 — 21 above her season average — is believed to be a Class 5A record, it is not necessarily the big-school record in New Mexico. Roswell was in Class 4A, then the state's largest class, when Adaline Bouldin of Roswell scored 56 points against Del Norte in 1995.
Nevertheless, Hines became the second player in the city this season — following Del Norte's Shane Douma-Sanchez, who scored 60 on Eldorado's boys in last month's metro tournament — to reach at least 50 points in a game.
Hines scored 13 points in the first quarter, 19 in the second, eight in the third and 11 in the fourth. She hit four 3-pointers in the victory.
She nearly broke Eldorado's school record. Jill Shaver, playing for then-coach Don Flanagan, scored 52 points against La Cueva when Eldorado was a 4A school in 1988.
CHANGES: The wind/weather created some havoc with district basketball tournament schedules on Wednesday.
Four games Wednesday night in the metro area were pushed back to Thursday night, and one district final has now changed its date, too.
The Eldorado girls were to play at Sandia in the second round of the District 2-5A tournament, but the extreme winds Wednesday knocked out power in the area — including to Sandia, which could not host.
Weather/travel concerns factored into other postponements.
In District 5-5A, both Capital and Santa Fe were due to travel south for boys games Wednesday night — the Demons at Rio Grande and the Jaguars at Los Lunas. Both will be played instead at 7 p.m. Thursday.
And as a result of this delay, the 5-5A title game, which was set for Friday night at 7, will now be played at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Farmington boys were due to play at Eldorado on Wednesday; that, too, was pushed back 24 hours, to 6 p.m. Thursday.
FINALS: There will be a return to a normal Week 2 schedule at the state tournament next month.
Three of the 10 championship games will be played on Friday, March 10 — Class 3A girls (3 p.m.), 2A girls (5 p.m.) and 4A girls (7 p.m.)
The remaining seven will be played at the Pit the following day, culminating with the Class 5A boys final at 8 p.m.
The rest of the schedule on March 11: 2A boys (8 a.m.), 1A girls (10 a.m.), 3A boys (noon), 5A girls (2 p.m.), 4A boys (4 p.m.) and 1A boys (6 p.m.).
The Pit is hosting 38 games over five days from March 7-11. The Rio Rancho Events Center (March 7-9) and Bernalillo High (March 8 only) also are Week 2 state tournament sites.
The state tournament brackets will be announced late afternoon on Sunday by the New Mexico Activities Association.
THIS AND THAT: Eldorado's Matt Burke and Albuquerque Academy's A.J. Rivera have both made their commitments to play football at the next level. Burke, a top defensive lineman for the Eagles, has committed to Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Rivera, the Chargers' quarterback, has committed to Case Western University in Cleveland.
