3A North Region tourney: Chinle, MV, Window Rock girls move on

FORT DEFIANCE

The Chinle girls basketball team withstood a barrage of late threes from Tuba City in the opening round of the 3A North Region tournament on Thursday afternoon.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the fifth-seeded Lady Warriors connected on three of four treys. No. 4 Chinle powered ahead, however, behind the play of junior guard Qoah Yazzie as the Wildcats escaped with a 44-40 win at the Bee Hółdzil Fighting Scouts Events Center.

“This was a tough match,” Chinle coach Francine McCurtain said. “You never know what they’re going to pull out of their hat. You know, they shot a couple of three there at the end and it makes you a little worrisome.”

In other quarterfinal action, a battered Monument Valley squad tapped into its bench and pulled away from Alchesay, 71-60, in the No. 3 versus No. 6 matchup.

Meanwhile, second-seed Window Rock finished out its game with No. 7 Ganado on a 24-8 run en route to a 62-46 win after the game was tied at 38-all at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Lady Scouts will play Monument Valley at 3 p.m. while Chinle will take on top-seeded Page at 6 p.m. today. The Sand Devils rested on Thursday with a bye in the seven-team tournament.

“Page is another tough one,” McCurtain said. “They’re No. 1 in our bracket and in the rankings. We’re looking forward to a tough one with Page, but again we want to make sure that we compete.

Chinle

Even though Tuba City began to find its range, Yazzie kept the Wildcats afloat by scoring 10 of her game-high 17 points during a three-minute stretch in the fourth quarter.

Yazzie’s two-point shot at the 2:11 mark put Chinle ahead 43-33 as that cushion was enough to weather a late Tuba City rally.

“My mentality was to score,” said Yazzie of her outburst. “I knew I had to score based on how close the game was. We had to stay calm despite the long threes Tuba made, but overall I think we played well.”

In addition to Yazzie’s 17 points, the Wildcats also got 11 points from junior post Dizhoon White.

For Tuba City, junior post Natasha Acothley finished with 10 markers while junior guard Eriana Begay chipped in eight with two treys.

Monument Valley

The Mustangs beat Alchesay for the third time this season but it came with a steep price as MV might be down three players in tonight’s game with Window Rock.

In Thursday’s game, junior Keiryn Mann tweaked her knee and senior Corey Sandoval received a gash above her eye while a third player took a hit in the jaw.

“I am happy to get the win, but my major concern is with those girls,” MV coach Jason Franklin said. “The biggest thing for me is we’ve had so many injuries this season. It seems like every time we turn around we’re losing two, three girls and so it’s been hard for us to find consistency.”

With the injuries, Franklin played all 15 of his girls. Ten of of them scored,  headed by the 17 points turned in by Kaleilanamaria Maiava.

The Mustangs also received 14 points from junior Latisha Mutte, 13 from Sandoval and 11 from senior Jazanna Miles.

For Alchesay, senior Jazlyn Nosie finished with a game-high 23 points while Romana Gregg added 16 and Ayssa Jim chipped in 13.

“Alchesay made us work tonight,” Franklin said. “The last couple of times we played them, we played a specific defense that they had trouble with. It’s obvious they worked on it the last couple of days.”

As for facing Window Rock, Franklin said his team will have its hands full, facing a veteran team.

“Window Rock has so many great athletes, so many great players,” Franklin said. “They’ve been playing together for a long time. We’ve lost to them twice this year, so our kids’ confidence against Window Rock might be down a little bit. I just hope to have our girls healthy and ready to go.”

Window Rock

The Lady Scouts advanced into the next round despite facing some tough challenges from archrival Ganado.

The Lady Hornets receiveda game-best 28 points from junior wing Faith James as her three-pointer at the 7:43 mark of the fourth quarter tied the contest at 38-all.

Jamesadded a two-point basket a minute later as Ganado trailed 41-40. From that point on, Window Rock shut down James and the rest of the Hornets as the Scouts won big, 62-46.

“I just gotta remind the girls that we have to start strong and finish strong,” Window Rock coach Gabrielle Whitney said. “We started the first quarter with the momentum and it was us finding that momentum again. The girls did a very good job of closing out the game, especially on defense.

“They showed a lot of heart because Ganado is a good team,” she added.

Besides James, Ganado also had sophomore Jasah McIntosh in double figures as she popped in 11 points with three treys.

For Window Rock, the Scouts were led by Melicia Nelson and Devaé Willie as the two players finished with 16 points apiece. Asa-Ryah Begaye and Kourtney Bitselley added 12 and 11, respectively.

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