3A state finals: Alchesay girls repeat, MV boys come up short

PHOENIX 

A cold shooting night made it difficult for the Monument Valley boys basketball team in search of its fourth state title.

The Mustangs were 4-of-31 from long range and 0-of-10 from the free-throw line Saturday night as it came up short to top-seed Chandler Valley Christian 65-44 in the 3A state title game.

“When we were shooting the ball, it felt like there was a lid on the basket,” MV senior Albrandon Byjoe said. “Things just didn’t go our way.”

“Sometimes it’s not our day, and I guess that was today,” senior guard Roberto Flores added. “We just got to learn from this and keep living our day and move forward from this.”

In the 3A girls, the Alchesay Lady Falcons repeated as champions with a 52-35 win over the Show Low Cougars.

The Lady Falcons used its defense and the deafening pro-Alchesay crowd at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum to stymie Show Low. 

“They’re tough, and they play hard,” Alchesay coach Rick Sanchez said of his club. “They know what it takes to win, and they’re resilient.”

Sanchez said his team got going in the second quarter as the Falcons increased a 12-9 first-quarter edge into a 30-18 halftime advantage.

“Our crowd is something else; they’re more than a sixth man for us,” he said. “The crowd just lifts us, and we just kept going.”

Senior guard Jenieth Sanchez led Alchesay with 18 points and eight rebounds, while junior guard Jazlyn Nosie chipped in 10 points, five assists, and four steals.

“I’m just so proud of my team,” Jenieth Sanchez said. “They (Show Low) hadn’t play us, so we wanted to show them what it’s like to play the Falcons, so we just had to show out.”

In the boys game, Valley Christian erased a 15-13 first-quarter deficit and gained a 30-23 halftime cushion thanks to a 5-of-12 effort from the 3-point line.

In the second half, the top-seeded Trojans used its length to distance itself from the Mustangs.

“We tried to treat this as a regular game, but our shots weren’t falling,” MV coach Randolph Gilmore said. “I think that got to the players’ head. We still continued to play defense, but we were outsized. Their height bothered us.”

Valley Christian made 9-of-39 from long range, with 6-foot-2 junior guard Luke Shaw making four. 

Shaw finished the contest with 34 points while getting 12 from Kyle Grier.

For Monument Valley, Byjoe finished with 16, and Roberto Flores added nine.

Pick up Thursday’s Navajo Times at your local newsstands for a more in-depth story.

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