Ember Canty of Centauri brings the ball up court during the Falcon's district championship defeat to Pagosa Springs on Feb. 24. La Jara will see three state tournament games from Friday Mar.2-3. (Courier photo by Stephen Jiron)

ALAMOSA — In the first round of 3A girls’ state championship basketball Centauri will face Stargate Charter School.

The Centauri Falcons left the regular season 18-1. The lone blemish was the work of Pagosa Springs, in a 40-32 game on Jan. 26. Over the course of the season Caroline Van Berkum has held the scoring title for Centauri with 9.9 points per game hitting 51 percent of her attempts from the field. Down low Ember Canty controlled the paint for Centauri. Canty currently leads Centauri in rebounds with 171 and is state ranked for blocks registering 3.3 blocks per game.  

Alyssa Gomez controls the traffic leading Centauri with 83 assists as well as steals with 51. From the outside Melissa Wilson is the long distance threat hitting a team leading 28 3-pointers. Entering the district tournament just a week ago Centauri would defeat Bayfield and earn their rematch with Pagosa Springs. While the Falcons would relent the district title they still earned favorable seeding into the much more important state tournament.  

As the fifth seed Centauri will play host to their quadrant and will face the Stargate School Eagles on Friday night. The Eagles left the regular season with their head above the .500 mark at 11-8. Taking fourth in their district tournament they would make state thanks to their RPI ranking. They are led in scoring by Madisyn Rich with 136 points.

The Falcons meet the Eagles on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. As the hosts of four teams that means if Centauri can clear Stargate Charter School they will face the winner of the other game between Manitou Springs and Faith Christian within the confines of Centauri Middle School as well.