Bloomfield counts on last-minute comeback

BLOOMFIELD

All the work the Bloomfield girls’ basketball team has put into the season has been for the final eight minutes of every game.

The Bobcats have learned the importance of finishing games in the final quarter. Bloomfield finished strong in the District 1-5A championship with Gallup, winning 68-46.

Bloomfield head coach Tom Adair said the fourth quarter has been the key to their success.

“Our conditioning, everything’s been geared toward the fourth quarter and our girls stepped up in the fourth quarter with Gallup,” he said. “We did it against Los Lunas in the Hope Christian tournament, we did it against Shiprock for the championship game (at Hope Christian), we did it against Tohatchi at the first of the year, so I think the fourth quarter’s been a really good quarter for us.”

But leading to the fourth quarter the game was up for grabs. Gallup and Bloomfield shared the lead and kept things close through all three quarters.

Bloomfield made a short 6-0 run to start things off in in the first quarter, and Gallup answered with a 5-0 run of their own. The Bengals led 13-10 after one.

In the second, Bloomfield made an 8-0 run, forcing Gallup to take a timeout. A three-point basket by Gallup’s Kamryn Yazzie tied the game at 18-18.

Both teams shared the lead throughout the rest of the quarter, and Bloomfield led 26-25 at the half.

Adair said his team still felt the sting of losing to Gallup earlier in the season.

“We talked about the importance of being confident when we played Gallup over there,” he said. “We just had fun, we got steals, we shot really well.

“And when we shoot the ball well, our defense and everything just comes on,” he said, “it seems like our mindset, it’s just better. We’ve been a different team since then, we’re 14-1 since we lost to Gallup.”

---