{"id":11708,"date":"2026-03-14T05:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dynasty-at-the-pit-kirtland-central-captures-22nd-state-title\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:32:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:32:43","slug":"dynasty-at-the-pit-kirtland-central-captures-22nd-state-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dynasty-at-the-pit-kirtland-central-captures-22nd-state-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Dynasty at the Pit: Kirtland Central captures 22nd state title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=9785b5af-74f1-53ce-bff1-231010c2340c&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" alt=\"Kirtland Central\u2019s Haylee Nocki hoists the Girls 4A Championship trophy after defeating Gallup 52-33 on Friday at the Pit in Albuquerque. (Jon Austria\/Special to The Tri-City Record)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Kirtland Central\u2019s Haylee Nocki hoists the Girls 4A Championship trophy after defeating Gallup 52-33 on Friday at the Pit in Albuquerque. (Jon Austria\/Special to The Tri-City Record)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jon Austria<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>ALBUQUERQUE \u2013 The Kirtland Central girls basketball team added another chapter to its storied history Friday night before a capacity crowd at the University of New Mexico\u2019s Pit, earning its 22nd state championship with a 52-33 victory over Gallup in the Class 4A final.<\/p>\n<p>Led by sophomore Allyson Tsosie\u2019s game-high 17 points and junior Elaina Claini\u2019s 15 points, the top-seeded Broncos finished the season 29-3, including three wins in four games over their District 1-4A rival Bengals.<\/p>\n<p>Gallup, the No. 2 seed, had never lost to Kirtland Central in three prior championship meetings. The most recent of those losses occurred last year when the Bengals topped the Broncos 51-41.<\/p>\n<p>The Bengals, seeking a second straight state title, were outscored 44-24 in the final three quarters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt means a lot to get this one because it\u2019s good to get the first one out of the way against a team like Gallup,\u201d Kirtland Central head coach Devon Manning said. \u201cGallup is a tough team and they\u2019re tough to beat, and we have so much respect for that program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With 22 state championships and 36 title game appearances since 1979, Kirtland Central is ranked fourth nationally for the most girls basketball state titles, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U8FS1PE819s\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The opening quarter was tightly contested, with the lead changing hands four times before the Bengals\u2019 Marie Nez hit two free throws to provide a 9-8 lead heading into the second.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a slow start from the field in the second period, Kirtland Central finished the half strong. 3-pointers from Haylee Nocki and Tsosie put the Broncos ahead as they outscored Gallup 16-8 in the frame for a 24-17 halftime lead.<\/p>\n<p>From there, the Broncos dominated both ends of the floor, pairing offensive execution with a relentless press.<\/p>\n<p>The Bengals committed 25 turnovers, which Kirtland Central turned into 19 points. In addition to her scoring, Tsosie recorded six of the Broncos\u2019 14 steals and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n<p>Gallup\u2019s shooting struggled in the second half, as the Bengals converted only 5 of 21 shots from the floor. They finished the night shooting 26% from the field. Kirtland Central remained efficient, shooting 40% for the game.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=f54f6b36-e476-5f8c-9f6f-55d34ea9614e&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Kirtland Central\u2019s Allyson Tsosie attempts a layup against Gallup during the Girls 4A Championship game on Friday at the Pit in Albuquerque. (Jon Austria\/Special to The Tri-City Record)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Kirtland Central\u2019s Allyson Tsosie attempts a layup against Gallup during the Girls 4A Championship game on Friday at the Pit in Albuquerque. (Jon Austria\/Special to The Tri-City Record)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jon Austria<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Senior Krista Tsingine-Yazzie finished her Broncos career with nine rebounds and two steals. For senior teammates Nocki, Kaylyn Cadman, Alana Sanders and Bahozhoni Crosby, the win was a definitive final act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe rides with the girls, the practices and the opportunities to play here have been great,\u201d Tsingine-Yazzie said.<\/p>\n<p>Manning pulled his seniors in the final seconds to recognize their contributions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was to tell them that they\u2019re leaving this program better than when they found it,\u201d Manning said. \u201cThe hard work and the yelling and screaming was worth it in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gallup was led by Mykeia Vicenti\u2019s 11 points as well as nine points and nine rebounds from Kayden Tsosie. The Bengals season comes to an end with a record of 27-5.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=8dfe9551-51c4-5d2f-bb4e-10e1efee70d1&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Kirtland Central\u2019s Elaina Clani attempts a shot against Gallup during the Girls 4A Championship game on Friday at the Pit in Albuquerque. (Jon Austria\/For The Tri-City Record)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Kirtland Central\u2019s Elaina Clani attempts a shot against Gallup during the Girls 4A Championship game on Friday at the Pit in Albuquerque. (Jon Austria\/For The Tri-City Record)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jon Austria<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><div class=\"naviga-scoreboard\">\n<p>Kirtland Central 52, Gallup 33TEAM1st2nd3rd4thFINALBroncos81691952Bengals9851133<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>17 points from sophomore Allyson Tsosie and a relentless defense, the top-seeded Broncos pull away from Gallup in Class 4A championship game<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,1816,28,680,642,1815,1709,29,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-11708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-gallup-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-girls-basketball","tag-high-school-sports","tag-kirtland-central-high-school","tag-new-mexico-activities-association","tag-newsletter","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11708"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19418,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11708\/revisions\/19418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11708"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=11708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}