Daily Press Staff Report

The Candace Pollard era for Artesia High School starts Nov. 26 at Santa Teresa.

She replaced former head coach Jeff Houghtaling in April and guides a girls basketball team that lost to Albuquerque St. Pius in the semifinals of the 4A state playoffs 61-41 in March.

Tuesday’s matchup in Santa Teresa is a tune up for the three-day City of Champions Classic Dec. 5 through Dec. 7 at the Bulldog Pit in Artesia.

At 11:30 a.m. Dec. 5 the Lady Dogs face Goddard in the opening round of the tournament.

Roswell, El Paso Riverside, Alamogordo, Deming, El Paso Bel Air and Carlsbad are other teams playing in the tournament.

Artesia hits the road Dec. 12 through Dec. 14 for a tournament at Albuquerque Academy. The Lady Bulldogs travel to Clovis Dec. 17.

Artesia wraps up December at home with back-to-back contests against Carlsbad and Clovis.

At 5:30 p.m. Dec. 20, Artesia entertains the Cavegirls in the first game of a home-and-home match up.

At 2 p.m. Dec. 21, Gadsden travels for a matinee against the Lady Bulldogs.

Last season Artesia had a 22-7 overall record and finished 5-1 in District 4-4A.

League play starts on Jan. 31 at Lovington.