It's here ... Girls state basketball tournament update

Tonight we got the floorburns, upsets and tears.

Next week, we'll add The Pit -- and crank up the drama.

The state tournament is officially here. Bask, my friends.

You can bet floorburns were plentiful. Can you smell 'em? I saw enough as No. 8 seed Sandia knocked out No. 9 Mayfield, 41-35. Quick tangent: Last year's Class 4A winner Aztec also lost in the first round. The champions of the three other classes all won convincingly, including Texico, which provided the nastiest score of the night in beating Estancia -- prepare to wince -- 59-12. Yuck.

As for the upsets ...

Class 3A (maybe the seeding was off here?)
No. 12 Lovington 69,
No. 5 Socorro 63

No. 11 Thoreau 60
No. 6 Tohatchi 56

No. 10 SFIS 59
No. 7 Sandia Prep 47

Class 4A
No. 12 Piedra Vista 45,
No. 5 Los Alamos 43

No. 10 Del Norte 45,
No. 7 Roswell 44

• Congrats to the Knights, who, in their first playoff appearance since the 1970s, will get to stride down the famed ramp at The Pit.
  

Class 5A
No. 10 Hobbs 52
No. 7 Valley 47

• Hard to call this an upset. The teams are close in the seeds and this was played in Hobbs because NMAA rules always give district champions home games in the first round, even if they are seeded lower.
  

Here are the Class 5A scores that haven't been mentioned ...
1) La Cueva 40,
16) Gallup 38

5) Las Cruces 57,
12) Los Lunas 32

4) Cibola 43,
13) Highland 35

3) Rio Rancho 39
14) Clovis 30

6) Alamogordo 58,
11) Rio Grande 44

2) Eldorado 63,
15) West Mesa 35

For all the scores, click here.

*****

As I walked toward my seat at the Sandia gym I bumped into legendary Clovis football coach Eric Roanhaus.

It surprised me at first.

"I forgot you were an official," I said as we shook hands.

Quipped Roanhaus: "Yep. I'm part of the cheaters club."

Other than that I didn't notice him -- which is a good thing for officials. Can you imagine if he had blown his whistle for a questionable call that cost Mayfield the game? That wouldn't have sat well in Las Cruces.