Observer sports editor

Bad weather forced another postponement of the Rio Rancho girls game at Gallup Tuesday, the second time the District 1-5A contest has been changed.

Rams coach Bob McIntyre said the game will be made up next Tuesday, although he was worried if bad weather forces a third postponement, that new date could mean two trips to Gallup in the span of a few days. Barring more bad weather, making a trip from Gallup to Rio Rancho dangerous, the Bengals girls will visit the Rams (14-50, 2-0) Saturday for a 7 p.m. game.

Rio Rancho takes a six-game winning streak into its game at West Mesa this evening; tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

The Rams’ latest victory serves as its best game of the season.

Rams 47, Cibola 28: The Cougars went into Saturday night’s game as the top-ranked team in the state.

By halftime, it was clear Cibola wasn’t even the No. 1 team in its gym that night.

“Hey, guess what? We just beat the No. 1 team in the state,” noted Katie Crouch, who had a great view of the game from the Rams’ bench.

McIntyre was pleased with the win, the Rams’ sixth in a row, but preferred not to take any of the credit.

“Let’s talk about coaching first. Our staff is the same way as our team is,” he explained. “I pretty much try to take care of the defense and, honestly, you’ve got to give all the credit offensively to coach (Patrick) Puentes.

“He came over and said, ‘I think we’re ready to play; I like the way our kids warmed up,’ and he was right. He has a good read on them,” McIntyre said.

“They usually play great, great defense and the fact we got a lead allowed us to get them out of their comfort zone, which is that 3-point line on in,” he said. “The key to the game was our kids kept their composure.”

Nothing pleases Rio Rancho more than a victory over Cibola, and Saturday night’s first meeting of the season between the longtime rivals clearly belonged to the Rams.

“We know if we can play a game like that, then obviously we can play with anybody in the state,” McIntyre proclaimed.

Junior guard Megan Muñiz gave her team the lead to keep when she drained a 3-pointer with 1:06 to play in the first half.

The Rams held a narrow 21-19 edge at halftime, then left no doubt as to which team was the better one in their first of at least three meetings this season in the decisive third period.

Muñiz, who had 10 of her game-high 18 points in the second period, got help from teammates Courtney Solwick, with two baskets, and Ashley Rhoades, who scored three points, in what turned out to be a 12-2 Rams quarter. All the Cougars could manage were a pair of free throws by Shayla Flores, which wouldn’t have been possible had not a Rams assistant coach drawn a technical foul.

When Flores dropped in both free throws, it reduced Rio Rancho’s lead to 20-21, but the Rams scored the final five points of the period, the last three on an aerial by Muñiz.

Leading 34-21 heading into the final period, the Rams never led the Cougars get closer than 12.

Rhoades saw to it that never happened, scoring on a rebound, off a pass from Amanda Solwick and then off a pass from Muñiz for a 6-0 run of her own in a 66-second span. A layup by Muñiz extended the lead to 42-22.

Cibola didn’t have an answer for Rhoades’ rebounding ability, nor was anybody able to guard the shifty Muniz.

CHS coach Lori Stephenson, a former assistant to McIntyre, tried her best to motivate her Cougars, playing without arguably their best player, senior guard Skye Barnett.

“Are you going to get your butts handed to you or are you going to have a little pride?” she queried at one point in the game. During the Rams’ final timeout, called with 1:26 left in the game so McIntyre could get a few bench players in, she told her players, “I know it’s embarrassing right now” but urged her girls to keep playing hard.

While the game was the Rams’ best of the season, it may have been the Cougars’ worst: An unofficial 25 turnovers is hard for any team to overcome, especially a top-ranked team.

Rhoades joined Muñiz in double figures with 14 points. Rounding out the Rams’ scoring were Tracy Fosterling with 6, Courtney Solwick with 4, Angelina Donnell and Kelsea Hawkins with 2 apiece, and Shelby Pendley with 1.

“It’s great for our team and what I told them was Cibola will be that much more hungrier when they come to our place (Feb. 14) and, you know what, it’s a district win,” McIntyre said. “What happened to our team this year: We were very fortuna6te to win some games with a very inexperienced team and we got better every single game, every single week.

“And then we hit a little bit of a lull, probably because we had a little too much time off after Christmas ... and then to win by that margin of victory (at CHS), that’s obviously our best ballgame. ... The strength for our team all year has been ‘team,” McIntyre said. “Obviously, Megan plays a huge role, but the other kids have learned to play with her and alongside her, and you’ve got to credit the other kids for their development.”

Ram dunks: Pilar Saiz led Rio Rancho’s junior varsity team with 10 points in the Rams’ 44-38 victory before the varsity game.

... Former Rams standout Nicole Tatum (Class of 2005) scored a career-high 32 points Friday evening, although her Adams State College Grizzlies (10-10) came out on the short end of a 90-85 overtime loss to Mesa State in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game in Alamosa, Colo. Tatum was 12 of 16 from the field, grabbed seven rebounds and contributed four steals. Tatum, who played four seasons with the Rams, had two 23-point games in her best offensive outings with RRHS, both in her senior season.

... Speaking of former Rams, Brio Rode was unbelievably 1 of 12 from the field and wound up with 6 points while playing 40 minutes for San Francisco State in its 66-57 victory FRiday over visiting Cal State-San Bernardino. The next night, she was 4 of 8 from the field and wound up with 11 points in a 63-51 win over Cal Poly Pomona. Rode was 7 of 7 from the foul line, overall.

... The Rams and coaching staff were guests on KOB-TV’s GameDay show Friday night.

...Tonight, the Mustangs will be gunning for a second straight upset after upending visiting Gallup 43-39 last Saturday.

... In spite of victories over Roswell and Clovis in Clovis on Jan. 25-26, the Rams dropped from 4 to 6 in the latest Coaches Poll.