Mar. 11 -- Step one was easy enough for the Portales High girls basketball team. Now, the Lady Rams were set to see just how far they can get in the Class 4A state tournament.

Senior guard Myleigh Banda scored a personal-best 26 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and three steals and the third-seeded Lady Rams thoroughly dominated Shiprock after the first quarter en route to a 67-28 victory in a first-round 4A state tourney game on Friday night at the Ram Athletic Center.

Portales (19-9) had won 10 in a row and 17 of its last 19 games heading into a Tuesday quarterfinal matchup against sixth-seeded St. Pius (19-8), which advanced on Friday with a 58-41 home triumph over Pojoaque.

Shiprock (13-16), the No. 14 seed, held a four-point advantage late in the opening stanza before PHS came back to lead 18-14 at the quarter. The Lady Chieftains managed only 14 points the rest of the night.

"They're not a bad team," PHS girls coach Wade Fraze said. "They shoot it well. We just kind of had to get it going."

By halftime, the Lady Rams had the score doubled up (38-19) and they put it in cruise control the rest of the way.

Banda notched four of Portales' seven 3-pointers, and also went 10-for-10 from the free throw line. The Lady Rams were 16-of-18 overall.

"It was a solid game from start to finish," Fraze said. "Myleigh had a tremendous game, but it was an all-around good game for us."

Senior guard Angel Ornelas added 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals, while senior forward Evannie Fulfer notched a pair of 3s and 14 points, with four assists and three steals.

Shiprock's top scorer was senior Avaya Etcitty with 16 points. She also had four of the team's five 3-point baskets.

PHS has won a pair of 4A state titles under Fraze, coming in 2014 and 2018.