Career nights Sand Devil players score 30-plus points en route to wins over Show Low

SHOW LOW, Ariz.

The season opener featured a pair of Final Four teams from nine months ago.

Page, the defending 3A girls state champ, held Show Low to 10 second-half points that led to a 57-35 defeat over the Lady Cougars on Thursday night at Show Low High School. Tayla Franklin, the sharpshooting junior, led the Lady Sand Devils with a career-high 31 points and seven 3-pointers.

“I just catch and shoot,” Franklin said of her outburst. “I’ve been grinding since last season ended, and I’m continuing to grind every day in practice.”

In the boys contest, Sand Devil guard Joseph Benally lit up the scoreboard with 36 points, leading Page to a 70-62 win. Benally, who also had a career night, put up 16 points in the fourth stanza, including the last nine.

Page senior post Tyree Stingley added 25 as both veteran players have the green light to shoot under head coach Justin Smith’s system.

“If none of our guys are not hitting, someone has to step up,” Benally said. “(Coach) Smith told me to start shooting and lead the team and be a factor on the court.”

“Honestly, that was probably Joey and Tyree stepping up, having that will to win,” Smith said of his team’s 8-point triumph.

“We have a long ways to go to where we need to be,” the Page coach said. “I mean, I told them a couple of nights ago during our team meeting that a basketball season is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”

“Show Low is a good basketball team, and I’m happy that we got the win,” he added. “But we’re nowhere near where we need to be to get where we want to go.”

Page opened the second half with three treys – two by Benally – and led 39-29 with six minutes to go in the third.

But the Cougars used a 19-9 run to knot the contest at 48-all going into the fourth.

Page regained the momentum and seized a 57-50 cushion with 6:14 left in the contest. Nonetheless, Show Low inched closer and got within 61-58 after a basket by junior Hadlee Dazen with 3:55 left in the contest.

That was as close as Show Low would get, as Benally found his offensive rhythm. The defense, meanwhile, held the Cougars to four points the rest of the way.

“Smith preaches defense 24/7,” Benally said. “He preaches a lot of defense and with him getting on us in the locker room boosted us up. We started off slow in the third quarter, but we locked in the fourth quarter.”

“I feel like we hustled all game,” Stingley added. “We did OK with our defensive rotations, and our defense got the job done today, but boxing out we were horrible.”

Senior Kegan Kobzowicz led the Cougars with 16 points. Junior Mason Bigos chipped in 15 and Dazen added 12.

“We weren’t taking advantage of the stuff they were giving us, and they were taking advantage of the stuff that we were giving them,” Show Low coach Darryl Suber said.

In particular, Suber believed that his club missed a lot of shots five feet away from the basket.

“All that stuff stacks up,” Suber said. “And, you know, we’re learning some new things, and we’re doing some different stuff and we’re nowhere near a finished product.”

Girls

The Lady Sand Devils got off to a strong start, leading 17-9 after one-quarter of play. But the tide of the game shifted Show Low’s way in the next stanza with senior guard Raquel Wilson scoring 10 of her team’s 16 points as the Cougars took a 25-24 halftime lead.

The Lady Sand Devils, however, ratcheted up their defensive pressure in the second half. They picked up a few steals and they zoned in on the Cougars’ outside shooters, particularly Wilson, who finished with a team-high 17 points.

“The big thing that we preach is defense,” Page coach Celeste “Boka” Claw said. “We rely on our defense to get those transition points. Whenever we slack off, we’ll give that team the opportunity to score and that is what happened to us when Show Low had that 13-0 run.

“Show Low did fantastic, but that is when I got after them at halftime,” she added. “I was like, if we let down on our defense, it’s going to be a rough night. But if we can pick up our defense, it’s going to allow us opportunities when it comes to offense.”

Show Low coach Christie Francis says Page overwhelmed them in the second half as the Cougars had more turnovers (15) than points (10).

“Page is a great team,” Francis said. “We didn’t handle their defensive pressure very well and that’s what happens.

“We don’t have a very deep bench right now, so they got tired, and it shows,” Francis added. “You just got to play with what you have, and we didn’t do a very good job.”

Senior guard LeLaura Yazzie added a dozen points for the Sand Devils, which included a pair of treys.

“Honestly, we were kind of scared because we lost seven seniors last year,” Yazzie said. “They had a big impact on our state championship team last year, and so this year we’re trying to figure ourselves out.

“But I think we did pretty good tonight,” she added. “I mean, Tayla Franklin had 31 points for us. Man, that’s a lot.”

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