3A state playoffs: Top-seeded Page, Holbrook girls advance

WINDOW ROCK

Aiming for the program’s seventh state title, the Page girls basketball team let its defense do all the talking in its opening round win over No. 16 Wickenburg on Tuesday night.

The top-seeded Lady Sand Devils led 31-4 after the first quarter, and never looked back in securing a 73-25 win.

No. 3 Holbrook also advanced with a 69-42 victory over its region sisters as the bottom half of the 3A state bracket featured five teams from the 3A East Region.

Both teams will be in action on Friday night with Page hosting Yuma Catholic and Holbrook entertaining archrival Winslow. Tipoff for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Page

Heading into Tuesday’s game, Sand Devil coach Ryan Whitehorse admitted that he was a little disappointed in the way his girls prepared the day before.

“Honestly, we didn’t have a great practice (on Monday),” he said. “We weren’t mentally prepared, but the girls figured things out. They came out aggressive.”

Whitehorse said their defense is what sets the tone for his undefeated club that improved to 15-0 after Tuesday’s win.

“As long as we come out strong defensively than our offense will take care of itself,” he said.

Junior Miquedah Taliman and senior Torrance Begay paced the Sand Devils as each player finished with 17 points.

“We had other girls chip in,” Whitehorse said, adding that seniors Emma Yazzie and Neve Redhair helped out with nine apiece.

Whitehorse is expecting a stiffer test from their opponent on Friday.

“Yuma Catholic is a pretty athletic team so it’s not going to get any easier from here on out,” he said. “We just got to keep that consistency going. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all season, which is focusing on defense.”

Holbrook

The Lady Roadrunners got a little resistance from Blue Ridge as the Lady Yellowjackets led 19-18 midway through the second quarter.

But things took a turn for Holbrook as they opened a 35-22 cushion at the half and they upped that margin to as much as 29 points.

“We came out sluggish and I give credit to Blue Ridge, they came out hard,” Holbrook coach Greg Perkins said. “We really didn’t wake up until halfway through the second and we shot the ball extremely well from the outside.”

As a team, Perkins said they hit eight treys and that opened things up for senior post Matehya Aberle, who finished with a team-best 20 points.

The Roadrunners also had seniors Jineane Cummings and Abigail Benally in double figures as they finished with 14 and 13, respectively.

“Abigail played an awesome game,” Perkins said of the Ganado transfer. “That’s probably the best game she’s played for us so far. Just an all-around game.”

Having beaten Winslow twice already this season, Perkins said the Lady Bulldogs are going to bring it on Friday.

“They play physical in a good way,” he said. “It’s gonna be a battle and if we start slow like we did tonight we’re going to be in trouble. It will be an uphill battle for the rest of the way.”

In their latest meeting, Perkins said they outlasted Winslow by a 54-47 count.

“It was a close game and it was back and forth,” he said. “I think we got some shots there at the end that kind of helped us out.”

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