Journey ends for 4 local teams

The journey is over for four local girls' basketball teams - the Navajo Prep Lady Eagles, Thoreau Lady Hawks, Piedra Vista Lady Panthers and Gallup Lady Bengals.

There were high hopes for Gallup as they entered the postseason 23-6 overall, 7-1 in district and with the District 1-5A title.

The Bengals won their ticket to Albuquerque after defeating Manzano, 53-30, in the first round of the tournament March 5 in Gallup.

The Lady Bengals had a familiar opponent Tuesday in Clovis as they defeated the Lady Wildcats, 70-66, in the championship game of the Gallup Invitational.

In the second round game at the Santa Ana Star Center, Gallup trailed most of the contest, ending the first quarter down by two, 18-16, then going into the half trailing 33-32.

But Gallup could not stop Texas Tech-bound senior Antiesha Brown.

"You got to get the ball out of her hands," said coach Kamau Turner. "If you don't get the ball out of her hands she's going to put the ball in the hole, that's just it.

"I actually thought we did a fairly well job of stopping her," he said.

Brown scored 13 points in the second half, most from the free-throw line. Turner said that is expected when the two teams meet.

"That's probably the story of the game," he said. "They shot a lot of foul shots (34), I don't know how many but they shot a lot of foul shots.

"We didn't get to play who we wanted because the officials kind of dictated that we weren't going to do that tonight, especially inside," he added.

Gallup slowly slipped away, trailing at the end of the third quarter, 53-43, and ending the game with a 67-57 loss.

"I feel bad for our seniors because they don't get another chance, and they put in so much work," Turner said. "It's hard as a coach to know how hard they work, how much they influence and mold the team. I would have really loved to have gotten a state championship, not only for myself but for our seniors.

"I think it's been a wonderful season," he said.

Navajo Prep

Navajo Prep was on a different journey as they looked to earn back-to-back state championships.

But Navajo Pine cut their effort short.

Navajo Pine took the lead at the end of the first quarter 15-8, held a 32-18 lead at the half and ended the third ahead, 45-26. They coasted to the 70-40 win.

Navajo Prep coach Rainy Crisp said defense was the focus but turnovers defeated them just as they did in an earlier meeting.

"Our mind set was to come in and play solid defense and to limit our turnovers," she said. "We played them back in the regular season and we lost it due to turnovers.

"So that was our main focus coming in. Once you get to the state tournament having 28 turnovers, any team at this level we're putting ourselves in a tougher position, in a bad position to win the game."

Crisp said Navajo Pine's run in the second half took her team of their game.

"It's just one of those games where nothing's going right and so we just started getting down on ourselves," she said.

Crisp said she is proud of the girls and enjoyed the season.

"We've come a long way from the beginning of the season to now," she said. "These girls they played hard all season long. Although it came to an end at an earlier point than we thought it would, these girls they have to be proud of what they accomplished so far."

Thoreau

The Thoreau Lady Hawks defeated Hot Springs, 58-47, at home in the first round and gave West Las Vegas a good fight on Tuesday.

Thoreau trailed by two points at the end of the first quarter, 11-9, then by five at the half, 30-25.

But their offense failed them in the third quarter as they scored only two points, ending the quarter down 45-27. The gap widened in the fourth quarter and Thoreau started to fight back but lost, 67-50.

"I don't know what it was but the girls played really good at the end," said coach Valarie Antone. "They came together but by then it was just a little bit too far to grab.

"Maybe we tried to push ourselves a little bit too much," she said. "Right when we got back in we forgot the little things, the fundamentals. We started throwing the ball away, there was a lot of turnovers."

Thoreau loses nine seniors and end the season 18-6 and 8-1 in district, but Antone said the younger players have something to look forward to and to be proud of.

Piedra Vista

The Piedra Vista Lady Panthers' journey is just beginning.

Coach Mike Christie helped guide his team to the state tournament but their ability to learn from their mistakes was the real story for their season.

In district, the Lady Panthers gave both No. 2 Shiprock and No. 1 Kirtland good competition. But the game Christie was looking for came when PV met Shiprock Tuesday in the quarterfinals.

A slow start for both teams left Shiprock leading 7-5 at the end of the first quarter. Shiprock also led 17-15 at the half.

PV concluded the third quarter with the 29-28 lead. But Shiprock pulled through for the 45-43 win.

Christie said he was proud of the team for keeping turnovers to a minimum.

"The girls stepped up to the challenge," he said. "They weren't afraid of Shiprock. They played poorly last time we played them. We kept our turnovers down, even though we had some key turnovers, we didn't have 30 turnovers against a team that likes to cause turnovers.

"The girls, this was a dream for them," he said. "They got here and we got close to going to the next level. We'll keep working on it."

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