No. 1 vs. No. 2

(Special to the Times - Donovan Quintero)

Kirtland Central's Taradena Mitchell (34) makes it look easy and shoots between a trio of Shiprock defenders Jan. 30 in Shiprock. Kirtland Central defeated Shiprock, 60-51.

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On Jan. 30, Class 4A girls No. 1 Shiprock hosted No. 2 Kirtland Central for the first time this season and the Lady Broncos won, 63-51, to grab the District 1-4A lead and to claim the No. 1 state ranking.

"Honestly, to me the little things made the difference tonight," said Shiprock coach Brady Rivers. "Kirtland got all the loose balls, they rebounded well. They seemed like they had a little more passion, a little more heart, a little more desire than we did tonight."

Kirtland Central head coach Charles Kromer said his team prepared as much as they could for the game.

"We had to keep them off the free-throw line," Kromer said, "The other thing I told them was we had to rebound, we couldn't let them rebound and throw that long outlook pass out and get an easy layup.

"If we can keep them in a half-court game we can play with them," he said. "We didn't give them any easy baskets. I think that was the difference in the ball game."

Getting right to business, the Lady Broncos jumped to a 14-9 start at the end of the first quarter and stretched their lead to 25-9 in the middle of the second quarter.

But with a couple of missed shots by Kirtland Central the Lady Chieftains were back in the game and trailed 30-20 at the half.

"I thought our girls did a good job of getting back into the game," Rivers said. "It seemed like we were getting there but it seemed like they (Shiprock) we're giving up the little things. We had our opportunities, we just didn't make the most of it and Kirtland did."

Shiprock trailed by three points, 39-36, at the end of the third quarter.

The sold-out crowd grew louder and the atmosphere more intense. Shiprock was back in the game but Kirtland Central wasn't about to let the game slip away.

With less than a minute left the Lady Broncos led 57-47 and they kept going and never looked back.

Shiprock senior Courtney Benally said her team felt prepared but the little things they worked on all season weren't working.

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"We were pretty pumped up," she said. "We thought we were ready. I think it was just like the little things, like rebounding, blocking out, turnovers, and diving for loose balls."

Kirtland Central, ranked No. 1 this week by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association, also learned something about themselves.

"I think we're trying to play too fast and we make too many erratic passes when we don't need to," Kromer said. "We just need to settle down and do our offense. Sometimes we think we need to get in some kind of hurry."

Rivers said although the loss was tough his team can soak it in and move on to the next goal, which is Piedra Vista today.

"You got to give Kirtland credit, they came to play," he said. "They're the No. 1 team in the state and they proved they're the No. 1 team in the state.

"We'll be all right, this isn't our first loss," he added. "We'll bounce back. We'll put this behind us. It's frustrating, it's hard to swallow, it's tough - that's part of playing sports.

"Sometimes I got to remind myself that we still got a young team," Rivers said. "They're gonna make some mistakes. I ask so much of them, the fans ask so much of them, the parents ask so much of them and sometimes we gotta step back and say this is new for some of them.

"This is the first time they've played Kirtland in front of a crowd like that," he said. "The majority of these sophomores, it's new for them. We got to step back and say this is what happened, look at the film and let's learn."

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