3A North tourney
Top-ranked Chinle girls to face Tuba
in title game

FORT DEFIANCE

The adage “the third time’s the charm” best describes what the Tuba City Lady Warriors achieved on Friday evening.

The third-seeded Warriors (13-6) had come up short of Page twice during the regular season, but Tuba exacted some revenge with a 53-41 win over the Lady Sand Devils (11-7) in the first of two semifinal games played during the 3A North Regional Girls Basketball Tournament at the Bee Hółdzil Fighting Scouts Events Center in Fort Defiance.

Tuba now has the tall task of trying to topple unbeaten Chinle (19-0) in today’s championship game, which is scheduled for 3 p.m. The Lady Wildcats completely dismantled fourth-seed Ganado by a 57-30 count.

Tuba

Entering Friday’s contest, Page earned a pair of barnburner wins over Tuba with the Sand Devils winning 46-44 and 56-55 during the regular season.

And although Page proved to be a worthy adversary, the Warriors never trailed in this game as Tuba stayed consistent all the way through.

“We really wanted this win,” Tuba coach Michael Balcerek said. “Obviously, Page beat us the first two times and it was by three points total in both games.

“Our goal is to win the regionals, but we couldn’t get there until we got through Page,” he added.

Like they did the night before, Balcerek received contributions from a bevy of players. The inside-outside game created opportunities for the Warriors as Tuba steadily built a 12-point cushion in the middle of the second period.

After leading 15-11 at the end of the opening stanza, the Warriors scored the first eight points in the second with four players scoring two-point buckets.

Tuba senior post Natasha Acothley capped that run with an inside bucket as the Warriors gained a 23-11 cushion with 3:32 to go before the half.

Down the stretch, Page closed that margin to 30-21 at the break with junior forward Tayla Franklin scoring four of her game-high 16 points.

Behind a 7-2 run, the Sand Devils got as close as 32-28 following a transition basket by senior LeLaura Yazzie as Page forced Tuba into three quick turnovers at the start of the third.

The Warriors, however, got back on track as a 3-pointer by junior Justice Nez (eight points) started a 10-6 run, which was buoyed by sophomore post Trece Tsingine’s five points.

Acothley then capped the run with another inside bucket as Tuba entered the fourth leading, 42-34.

The Sand Devils received five quick points from Franklin to get within 42-39 at the start of the fourth, but Tuba kept them at bay in the final six minutes of the game.

The Warriors were led by senior guard Eriana Begay as she finished with a team-best 14 points, which included nine in the opening quarter.

Tuba also received nine points each from Acothley and Tsingine as the Warriors inside game complimented their guard play.

“Page has a real good post in Leikara Yazzie and it was hard battling her the past two games,” Tsingine said. “But today, we knew how to guard her and we just capitalized on their mistakes to help out on offensive.”

Chinle

In the late game, the top-ranked Lady Wildcats steamrolled to a commanding 17-6 in the first eight minutes of the game behind the play of seniors Jayden Lynch, Dizhoon White, and Qoah Yazzie.

The three players combined for a dozen points headed by Lynch, who had five.

And while Chinle exploited its inside presence with White scoring six of her team-best 12 points in the second stanza, the Wildcats also received support for its other starter in guard Noelle Walker, who also had put up six points in the said quarter.

Walker’s bucket at the 5:09 mark earned Chinle a 27-10 cushion as Ganado could not get anything going.

At the break, Chinle led 31-17.

With renewed focus, the Hornets cut Chinle’s lead down to 33-23 with 3:50 left in the third behind senior guard Faith James’ six points.

But Ganado, which received 14 points from James and 10 from Jasah McIntosh, could not sustain the same energy that Chinle had to mount a comeback.

“It’s postseason, and you have to step it up,” Chinle coach Francine McCurtain said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re No. 1 or No. 10, we got to step it up here in the postseason.

“It’s really good to have the girls get their defense going to where they’re talking and communicating,” she added. “That really helped tonight.”

Like her coach, White credited the team’s defense for its dominating win.

“I think our defense got our offense going,” White said. “Working on defense is our main priority right now. The harder we work on defense, the easier our offense will come and that is what we did tonight.”

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