LA JARA – The Monte Vista and Sanford high school girls basketball teams advanced to the Class 2A District 1 championship as the Lady Pirates defeated Del Norte 40-30, and the Lady Mustangs scored a 40-24 win over Sargent Thursday at the Centauri High School gymnasium.

Monte Vista 40, Del Norte 30

The Lady Pirates took off to an early 8-0 lead on 3-point baskets by Allessah Archuleta and Heysenny Beltran. The Lady Tigers, however, rallied to close to within a 10-7 deficit.

Beltran scored two more baskets and Sasha DuPont made a long three that just beat the buzzer to give Monte Vista a 17-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Del Norte scored the first eight points of the second quarter, with Kaitlyn Velasquez scoring four of them, to tie the score at 17-17. The score was tied at 19-19 before the Lady Pirates scored the last six points of the period to take a 25-19 lead at halftime.

Beltran scored four points to increase the lead to 30-21, but Baylie Laymon scored four points as the Lady Tigers closed to within 30-26 at the end of the third quarter.

Emma Parra scored the first three points of the second quarter to bring the Lady Tigers within a 30-29 deficit. But Beltran made another trey and Zariah Archuleta scored five points as the Lady Pirates pulled away to the 10-point victory.

Beltran led Monte Vista in scoring with 18 points, followed by Allessah Archuleta with 10.

Parra was Del Norte’s leading scorer with 12 points.

Sanford 40, Sargent 24

The Lady Mustangs took a 6-0 lead to begin the game. Brooklynn Reynolds scored five points to close out the first quarter and give Sanford an 11-3 advantage.

Claire Crowther and Brinlyn Smith both made 3-point baskets in the second quarter as the Lady Mustangs increased the lead to 23-8 at the break,

Makenzie Consaul scored three points early in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 25-11. But Reynolds scored three more points and Makynlee Faucette and Smith both scored two as Sanford led 32-17 at the end of the period.

The Lady Mustangs continued to pull away in the fourth quarter and secured the 16-point win.

Reynolds led Sanford in scoring with 12 points.

Angelise Garcia was Sargent’s top scorer with seven points.

Championship game is Saturday

Monte Vista (17-2) and Sanford (17-5) will meet for the district championship game on Saturday beginning at 5 p.m. Del Norte (10-11) and Sargent (14-6) will wait until the regional tournament brackets are released next week to see if they will continue their seasons.

Monte Vista 40, Del Norte 30

Del Norte – Velasquez 2 2-2 6, Parra 3 6-10 12, Laymon 3 0-1 6, Brown 1 1-2 3, Haynie 1 1-2 3, Leggett 0 0-0 0. Total 10 10-17 30.

3-point goals – none.

Monte Vista – DuPont 1 0-0 3, Beltran 7 1-4 18, A. Archuleta 3 3-4 10, Z. Archuleta 1 2-2 5, Lopez 1 0-0 2, Garcia 0 0-0 0, Espinoza 0 0-0 0, Henderhan 0 0-0 0, Mora 0 0-0 0, Castro 1 0-0 2, Pacheco 0 0-0 0, Mascarenas 0 0-0 0. Total 14 6-10 40.

3-point goals – Beltran 3, A. Archuleta 1, Z. Archuleta 1, DuPont 1. Total 6.

Del Norte 9 10 7 4 – 30

Monte Vista 17 8 5 10 – 40

Fouls – Del Norte 12, Monte Vista 16.

Sanford 40, Sargent 24

Sargent – Garcia 3 1-1 7, Asbell 2 2-2 6, Deacon 0 1-4 1, Consaul 2 1-4 5, Ka. Pargin 0 4-6 4, Ki. Pargin 0 0-0 0, Torgler 0 1-2 1. Total 7 10-19 24.

3-point goals – none.

Sanford – Crowther 4 0-0 9, Reynolds 4 3-4 12, Willett 1 0-0 2, S. Caldon 0 0-0 0, Bond 3 2-2 8, Smith 3 0-2 7, Koenig 0 0-0 0, Faucette 1 0-0 2. Total 16 5-8 40.

3-point goals – Crowther 1, Reynolds 1, Smith 1. Total 3.

Sargent 3 5 9 7 – 24

Sanford 11 12 9 8 – 40

Fouls – Sargent 12, Sanford 20. Fouled out – Smith.