ALBUQUERQUE — The Las Cruces High girl's basketball program has been looking for respect from around the state.

The team now has that respect. Behind clutch shooting from sophomore guard Andrea Aragon and just enough solid play on defense, the Bulldawgs are moving on in the high school basketball state tournament.

The fifth-seeded Bulldawgs outscored No. 4 Cibola 25-17 in the second half to win 43-39 in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A state playoffs at the Pit. It's the first time the program has reached the semifinals in school history.

Las Cruces High advances to play No. 1 La Cueva on Thursday at 9:45 a.m. in the Pit.

"Our kids played with a lot of determination and heart," LCHS head coach Matt Abney said. "We didn't have the size or athleticism of Cibola, but we played hard and made some big shots. Cibola is a great team and it had a great year."

Aragon hit the first of her two big triples at the end of the third quarter to tie the game at 29 on a nice pass by point guard Samantha Espana, who found Aragon in the corner.

Aragon followed with a 3-pointer, 19 seconds into the fourth quarter, to give LCHS a 32-29 lead. The Bulldawgs never trailed again.

"I have to give credit to my teammates, who set me up," Aragon said. "I got good looks on both shots."

The Bulldawgs kept charging behind Amy Fratzola and Devon Mulheron. Espana and Aragon found Fratzola for easy baskets and Mulheron rebounded her own miss and scored to put LCHS up 38-31 with 3:07 left.

"We were able to spread the floor and we got some easy baskets," Fratzola said. "We played with a lot of energy in the second half."

Fratzola led LCHS with 16 points, while Aragon hit four 3-pointers, including two big ones in the second half, to finish with 13 points. Cibola tried to make things interesting in the final three minutes, but only gets as close as three points on two occasions. Meanwhile, Fratzola hit four big free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

"Las Cruces High made some big shots and they deserved to win," Cibola coach Lori Stephenson said. "We gave a great effort. We didn't play good defense in the third and that hurt us."

Cibola went just 15-for-56 from the field and missed all seven 3-point attempts.

The Cougars were led by guard Skye Barnett with 11 points and Zalika Dyson with 10.

The Bulldawgs, who beat Los Lunas in the first round of the state playoffs, have won 11 straight and are 19-8 on the year, Cibola finishes 23-7.

The first half saw the Bulldawgs struggle with 14 turnovers and Cibola struggle from the field as the Cougars took a 22-18 halftime lead.

Las Cruces High had 11 of its 14 turnovers in the first quarter as it struggled against the length and height of the Cougars.

The Cougars also hurt the Bulldawgs with second chance points. Still, Cibola was just 8-for-33 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Elyse Brewster made half of the teams field goals and led Cibola with eight.

Meanwhile, LCHS got six points from guard Aragon and four each from post players Mulheron and Rivera, who took advantage of the absence of the 6-foot-3 Dyson who sat out the second quarter due to two fouls.