Beep-beep! Roadrunners off to fast start in 3A play

WINDOW ROCK

The Holbrook Lady Roadrunners got off to a quick start on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Arizona 3A girls state basketball tournament.

The No. 10-seeded Roadrunners advanced into the second round with a 55-22 win over Fountain Hills.

“We were able to get our transition game going and we got the lead early,” said Holbrook coach Greg Perkins, whose team improved to 24-6 overall. “The girls played relaxed and when we play relaxed we can shoot the ball pretty well.”

Holbrook led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter and they extended that margin to 39-11 at the break.

The Roadrunners instituted the running clock in the fourth as they led 53-20 at the end of the third with each team scoring two in the final stanza.

Holbrook was led by 6-0 junior Matehya Aberle as she finished with 14, which was two more than senior guard Madison Chappell.

For Fountain Hills, senior Mia Renner had nine points for the No. 23 seeded Lady Falcons.

With Fountain Hills coming from a lower elevation, Perkins said they were able to get them tired by pushing the ball up and down the court.

He said their half-court defense was effective in handcuffing the Fountain Hills squad.

“We’ve been working on that quite a bit and it showed in this game,” the Holbrook coach said. The Roadrunners will clash with No. 7 Window Rock in Friday night’s second round.

Perkins said he’s anticipating a much closer game with the Lady Scouts as the Sharon Toadecheenie-coached team won both meetings with Holbrook earlier this year.

“First of all we have to contain Jana Solee, she’s such a good player,” Perkins said. “We have to keep them from getting out on transition and we got to handle their pressure.”

Perkins said the last time they played Window Rock, the Scouts shot lights out from beyond the three-point line.

“We have to keep an eye on their shooters,” he said.

“I think if we can keep her (Solee) around 10 we’ll have a chance,” he said.

Perkins said they are going to do whatever it takes to get going offensively as Aberle did have a good game in their earlier game with Window Rock.

“Madison struggled in that game,” he said. “They’re our two best players but we’re not strictly one or two-dimensional. I have some girls that can shoot the ball too.”

With the field whittled to 16 teams, Perkins said there are a number of teams that can win it all in this stacked tournament.

“There’s just a lot of good teams in 3A,” Perkins said. “Sabino is the No. 1 team in the rankings but I think Page is probably the best team.”

On their side of the bracket, Holbrook has the potential to match up with a handful of 3A North schools, which include Page in the next round and, perhaps, Tuba City in the semis.

“All the North teams are so good,” Perkins said. “They fight each other every night starting in January so every game was a like a state tournament game for them.

“We know that our path in our bracket is going to go through a lot of the 3A North teams,” he said. “There’s nothing easy and we’re going to take it one game at a time, but if we don’t get by Window Rock our season is over.”

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