Battle to the end: Window Rock earns Lomasney Invite championship with exciting win over Lady Bengals

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

GALLUP – In the end of an evenly balanced tournament finals at the John Lomasney 48th Annual Gallup Girls Invitational, it was the free throws that ultimately decided the final outcome.

Already enjoying a huge advantage at the charity stripe, Window Rock buried 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to walk away with a 55-48 win over tourney host Gallup Saturday night before a packed crowd.

In the final analysis, Window Rock sank 12-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter after clinging onto a slim two-point lead to start the final quarter.

For the game, the Lady Scouts converted 19-of-26 free throws while the Lady Bengals were just 5-of-6.

Window Rock head coach Gabrielle Whitney, who is in her third year leading the Lady Fighting Scouts, said she was elated with a tough win over the tourney host.

“You have no idea how it feels to win the tournament,” said Whitney who returned four starters and lost just two players off last year’s team that lost in the state semifinals to Alchesay. “It feels great! It’s a rush. It feels like we won the state championship! We’re still a long ways from that. We still got a lot to work on. We got this under our belt going into the season. The girls are feeling confident and really playing their game and coming together.”

Gallup head coach Todd McBroom, who returned just one starter in post Rylie Whitehair, pointed out the huge difference at the charity stripe.

“I thought there was a big discrepancy in free throws,” McBroom said. “26 free throws to 6. Our main offense is going inside. We have strong kids inside. They’re getting bumped and there’s no foul. And then on the other end they get bumped and they fly against the wall. It’s the same contact and we’re not getting the same call.

“I thought we battled,” McBroom added. “Window Rock has a good squad. A big difference between them and us is that they have a senior-led squad and we’re inexperienced. It’s a lot of little things to work on. We had some key turnovers. Our percentage shooting the ball is not very good right now. We have to get better inside and outside. Ball security is a big thing. We can’t turn the ball over against a zone. We’re very inexperienced out there.”

McBroom continued, “A lot of our kids don’t have a lot of varsity time. We got a lot of time to get better. The real season don’t start till mid-January. That’s what we’re focused on. We want to grow every day and we’ll get better.”

Before their supportive home fans, Gallup raced to a quick 6-0 lead to start the game as Whitehair muscled her way to score her team’s first three baskets.

Window Rock’s Jayme Tso nailed a trey to put the 5-0 Lady Scouts on the board, but Gallup’s all-tourney Adriell Thomas banked a 3 off the glass in response.

Whitehair continued her torrid start with her fourth basket on a putback. Whitehair closed out her impressive first quarter with 10 points as she muscled her way along the baseline for her fifth score that pushed Gallup’s lead up to 18-11.

In the second quarter, Window Rock fought its way back into contention with a trey and a pair of free throws by Jayme Tso that tied the game for the first time at 24-all with 2:35 left in the first half.

The lead then changed hands in the final minutes with scores by Lady Scout Jada Brown, who made all-tourney along with teammates DeVae Willie and MVP Melicia Nelson, and Bre James while Gallup (2-1) countered from long range with treys by Raeanna Chee and Aniyah Dahozy for a 30-28 Gallup lead.

But the Lady Scouts snatched the lead 31-30 heading into the locker rooms with a trey off the glass from the top of the key by Asaryah Begaye.

Gallup’s Whitehair and Alysha Slinkey buried back-to-back treys in the third quarter that gave Gallup its final lead of the night, 39-37.

Window Rock’s Melicia Nelson later nailed a 3 that pushed the Lady Scouts back in front, 41-39. It would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way as the Lady Scouts marched to the charity stripe.

A pair of free throws by Gallup’s Ashlee Duboise drew the Lady Bengals to within 50-48 with 1:23 left in the game, wiping out an 8-point Lady Scout lead as Whitehair, who was held in check in the second and third quarters, scored two baskets in a row to finish with 19 points, while Duboise sank a pair of free throws.

Whitney said she had to call a timeout at that point to settle her team down.

“I had to get the girls comfortable and calm them down,” she said. “They were rushing and when they rush it turnovers happen. I called the timeout and told the girls we didn’t need to rush anything or need to force anything. Just go out there and play your game. Pull the ball out and look for something good.”

After Gallup was called for its fifth foul in the fourth quarter, Window Rock was in the bonus situation at the line with two free throws for each trip.

Nelson, who led all scorers with 18 points, which included 7-of-8 at the line, sank 3-of-4 free throws in successive trips to the charity stripe that made it 53-48 with 45 seconds remaining that sent some of the Bengal fans heading to the exit.

Lady Scout Tso, who tallied 15 points with two treys and 5-of-8 free throws, then iced the championship game trophy with two more free throws that delighted the large Window Rock following.

“With the new rule after five fouls there is no more 1-and-1s,” Whitney said. “Two shots. That’s a big changer right there. Free throws were what was going to help us win. I knew we were hungry for this win. Making it to the Final Four last year made the girls much more hungrier. They really, really want it.

“We have to take one game at a time,” continued Whitney. “We can’t overlook anyone. Every time we play Gallup, Gallup is always beating us, not by a lot. We’re always right there with them so to finally get this win it means a lot.”

Whitney said slowing down Gallup’s post Whitehair was crucial. After scoring 10 points in the first quarter, Whitehair was held to just nine points over the last three quarters.

“Watching them yesterday when they were playing, we knew we had to stop them,” Whitney said. “We knew we had to stop their bigs especially with both of the bigs in. When we have our bigs James and Brown having them in there really made a big difference. We kind of made it so if both of their bigs are in, we’re going to put our bigs in. We just have to like, have someone front them and someone behind because we knew they would do the lob so we kind of have to shut them down. We had to make some adjustments after the first quarter.”

Window Rock will host Gallup in a huge rematch on Dec. 13 in Fort Defiance.

McBroom said that playing Window Rock each year is always competitive.

“Any time we get together it’s a good atmosphere,” McBroom said. “You can’t ask to play in front of a better crowd.”

Both teams did not fare well from the field with Window Rock shooting 16-of-45 for 36 percent and Gallup at 17-of-51 for 33 percent.

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