Lady Eagles coast to fifth district title

For the five years Navajo Prep girls basketball coach Rainy Crisp had led the Lady Eagles, the Lady Eagles have delivered five district titles.

Friday night the Lady Eagles gave their coach that fifth district title, battling past Dulce to a 62-44 win.

"We’re not satisfied yet," said Lady Eagle Tianna Smith.  "We’re going to keep pushing."

"We worked hard all week in practice and pushed each other," added Lady Eagle Alexis Archambault.

"This win feels really good.  We’ve accomplished one of our goals," she added.

The Lady Eagles dominated the first quarter for a 12-2 behind 5 points from Danielle Coleman. Coleman and teammate Nicole Yazzie both completed three-point plays, and the Lady Eagles defense held the Lady Hawks to just one basket.

Dulce wasn’t ready to give up, however, and stormed back in the second quarter behind eighth points from Carmen Gomez and seven points from Kaitlyn Vigil. Gomez finished with 11 points and Vigil led the Lady Hawks with 13 points. Navajo Prep foul trouble gave Dulce a boost as well as the Lady Hawks went nine for 13 at the charity stripe, outscoring the Lady Eagles 21-10 in the period for the lead 23-22 at halftime.

"We knew coming in that Dulce is able to score," Crisp said. "We knew they could get baskets.  We wanted to make them work for it."

The battle was on in the third.  Dulce continued to come up big inside with Danette DeDios, who finished with nine points and 14 rebounds, posting up seven points in the period. Navajo Prep countered from the outside with Archambault knocking down eight points in the period, including two treys, while teammate Latawnya McCray added a trey, and six points, as well. After the dust settled the Lady Eagles held the advantage by one 38-37.

"We got away from rebounding in the first half," Crisp said. "We started picking it back up the second half."

"Defense is our bread and butter," Smith added.

"In the fourth quarter we boxed out, controlled the board and stopped the ball coming down the court."

In the fourth, the Lady Eagles sparked, behind a strong defensive effort that came up with several big stops and held Dulce to just seven points in the final quarter.

"Rebounding is definitely the reason why we won this game," Archambault said.

Those stops came up with some big steals that led to four almost back-to-back uncontested layups from Archambault, who finished with 12 points in the period and a game high 24 overall. Bridget Bicenti added a trey and five points in the period as well as Navajo Prep finished with their biggest lead, 18 points, of the game and the win.

"Dulce came out really wanting to win," Smith admitted.  "But, I think we wanted it more.

"It was a win we really needed to go on state," Smith added, saying they want to carry that momentum over into the state tournament.

The season isn’t over, however, as the Lady Eagles prepare for Class 2A State Tournament.  The Lady Eagles will host a first round game Friday night at 6 p.m. against Mesa Vista
Going into state "We need to just get back to the basic," Crisp said.  "The girls know how to play the game.

"That determination that we had in the fourth quarter, is what we’re going to need the whole state tournament."

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