Gallup Sun

Lady Bengals get big lead, don’t look back

The Gallup Lady Bengals blew out Grants Jan. 12 74-29 in a basketball game played at Gallup High School, but couldn’t muster the same wherewithal against Cibola 24 hours later.

The Grants game saw Gallup get out to big leads, before the team went ultimately ahead by a large margin toward the end of the first quarter. Grants never led the entire game.

The Lady Bengals led after the first quarter by the score of 24-4. Grants wasn’t able to establish a fluid offensive flow in the first half and that continued into the second half. The Lady Bengals started the game with a 3-point shot by junior guard Amanda Mitchel. Senior guard Lanae...

Maes, Harrison, Toledo too much for Lady Lynx

REHOBOTH, N.M. – The Rehoboth Lady Lynx entered the Jan. 13 Rehoboth Girls Basketball Tournament with a reputation for tenacity and nerves of steel.

But the 2A To’hajiilee Lady Warriors (6-9, 1-0) managed to cut through that Rehoboth veneer and beat the Lady Lynx 60-53 in the championship game in which superstars emerged on both sides. And it wasn’t just the players that stepped up to the plate, the head coaches made their presence known right down to the wire with some crafty decision-making.

“This is who we are. It’s what type of team we are,” To’hajiilee head coach Daniel Gallegos said afterward. “I just told the girls...

Joaquin Ortega, Tyrell Begay dismantle Window Rock

The Window Rock Scouts hung with the Gallup Bengals for most of the first quarter, before junior guard Quincy Smith and eighth-grader forward Joaquin Ortega proved too much to handle and Gallup rolled over the Scouts 68-45 in a boys third place consolation basketball game of the Gallup Invite played Jan. 6 at Gallup High School.

The consolation game was played after the tournament championship because Artesia and Sandia Prep were attending the tournament from far away locales. Artesia won the championship game over Sandia Prep, 58-48.

The other tournament teams were Artesia, Sandia Prep, Wingate, Tohatchi, Miyamura and...

MMA fighter Ryan Benavidez turns his life around

ALBUQUERQUE – When life gets you down, you can either run from the fight or hit back with all you got. Striking back is what Albuquerque hometown mixed martial arts fighter Ryan Benavidez did.

I had the fortune of meeting Benavidez while visiting Duke City, where we struck up a conversation. Growing up, Benavidez was raised by his grandparents. With no mother or father figure to offer guidance and stability, he soon found himself turning to drugs and alcohol. Mainly, Benavidez says, he was addicted to marijuana. He started smoking pot when he was a sophomore in high school and even began to sell it. Thankfully he never got...