Lady Wildcats face off against Pusch Ridge tonight
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Chinle Lady Wildcat Shaundiin Yazzie (20) drives the ball to the basket against Fountain Hills Lady Falcon Abisia Scaife on Wednesday night in Chinle.
CHINLE
The No. 10 seed Lady Wildcats took care of business on Wednesday and advanced to play this evening at 5:30 p.m. in Tucson.
The Chinle routed the Fountain Hills Lady Falcons, 68-35, at the Wildcat Den in Chinle. The playoff game was initially postponed because of inclement weather, but the Lady Falcons were already en route to Wildcat Country.
On Wednesday, Chinle head coach Francine McCurtain said that was the first time playing Fountain Hills.
McCurtain said their game plan was simple.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
The Chinle Lady Wildcats celebrate after they make a 3-point shot on Wednesday night at the Wildcat Den during a playoff game against the Fountain Hills Lady Falcons in Chinle.
“We wanted to make sure that we run our game,” the coach said after their win on Wednesday night.
About all of the Wildcat bench contributed points to help the team defeat the Lady Falcons, with Temyra Bia walking away with the highest score with 14 points, followed by Shaundiin Yazzie and Qoah Yazzie, with 13 points each.
Aside from getting the win, McCurtain said they fumbled a few things on the defensive end.
“It’s something that we can fix,” she said.
Tonight, Lady Wildcats are six hours to the south in Lady Lion Country, where they’ll be taking on the No. 7 seed Pusch Ridge Christian Academy.
McCurtain hopes the trifecta — Shaundiin Yazzie, Qoah Yazzie, and Bia — will get the job done and help the team earn another W. In the meantime, she added, that more than half the team never made it to the playoff round.
“Talking about the postseason and when you’re supposed to step up, when you’re supposed to hone in on your skills and your discipline. That’s now, and so we’re still we were they were still trying to figure it out a little bit,” she said.
McCurtain said they hadn’t played Pusch Ridge but got some insight from Window Rock, which defeated the Lady Lions in the regular season on Nov. 26. The Lady Scouts are hosting the Winslow Lady Bulldogs tonight at the Bee Hołdzil Fighting Scouts Events Center in Fort Defiance at 7 p.m.
McCurtain said they’d do more research on Pusch Ridge.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow