Chinle outlasts Snowflake, makes third trip to Final Four

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. – The Chinle girls basketball team entered the 3A state playoffs with a losing record.

Chinle was seeded 13th for the tournament and despite the odds the Lady Wildcats are headed back to the Final Four round for the third straight year.

Two years ago, the Wildcats lost the state title game to Alchesay as the No. 12 seed and last season they came up short to Show Low in the semifinals as the 10th seed.

After knocking off No. 20 Parker in the opening round of the 2024 tournament, the Wildcats twice played spoiler by downing No. 4 Chandler Valley Christian and No. 5 Snowflake in succession.

On Monday Chinle needed an overtime session to outlast Snowflake in an epic 62-55 triumph inside the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

With that, the Wildcats will play top seed Page at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix at 1 p.m. with the winner advancing to Saturday’s title game, which is scheduled for 4 p.m.

“Our record doesn’t reflect how our team is playing right now,” said Chinle coach Francine McCurtain, whose team improved to 15-16 overall.

The sixth-year coach felt that some of the earlier games Chinle played got away from them after junior post Dizhoon White was sidelined with a knee injury.

“Dizhoon came back in January, so she’s given us a boost,” McCurtain said. “With Dizhoon back in the lineup we had to rework our chemistry and think about how we were going to situate ourselves.”

With White on the sideline, Chinle went 7-11 in the early part of the season and since her return the Wildcats have won eight of 13 games.

“What’s neat is these girls have bought into what we’re doing,” McCurtain said. “They believe in the process. Whatever I asked of the girls they’re always following through. They’re out there making sure that we’re executing the best we can on offense and defense.”

That was in full display late in Monday’s contest as the Wildcats closed out the overtime session on a 9-0 run. Chinle received a timely baseline three from senior guard Neveah Jishie that jump started that finish. Her trifecta at the 1:03 mark gave Chinle a 56-55 advantage.

“We have girls like that who will step up in moments like that,” McCurtain said. “They’re our unlikely heroes and her shot was huge for our team. That changed the momentum for us.”

Jishie, who finished with nine points, had no second thoughts about shooting that three.

“During regionals I missed a three-point shot against Page that went in-and-out,” Jishie said. “I really didn’t think about it. I just shot it and I’m glad that it went in.”

On Snowflake’s ensuing possession, the Lady Lobos gave the ball back on a three-second violation as they were forced to foul.

Snowflake put Jayden Lynch on the line and her free throws gave Chinle a 58-55 edge. The Wildcats then came up with a steal at midcourt when senior Jorja Vasquez swiped the ball away from Snowflake’s Haddli Nichols.

Vasquez then iced the game for Chinle as she knocked down four straight free throws in the final 15.3 seconds as Snowflake missed a pair of threes down the stretch.

“I work on my free throws every day,” said Vasquez, who shared top scoring honors with White as both players finished with 17 points apiece.

“Coach always tells me to knock them down because at the end of the day free throws matter,” she said. “It wins games.”

In regulation the Wildcats grabbed a 46-37 lead at the 4:13 mark of the fourth quarter after a basket by Jishie.

Snowflake, however, used a 10-0 run to pull ahead thanks to some free throw shooting from junior guard Nicole Hipps.

Hipps, who finished with a team-high 14 points, made four straight as the Lobos regained the lead at 47-46 with 3:37 left.

The lead changed hands four times before the Lobos sent the game into overtime with senior post Kloah Ulberg scoring inside just as the buzzer sounded with the game tied at 52-all at the end of regulation.

“I think we had a mental drop there, more so on the defensive side,” the Chinle coach said of Snowflake’s run. “The defensive fundamentals that we started off with were no longer there. We weren’t rotating and a couple of times Jayden, my guard, ended down at the bottom in the paint. She’s not supposed to be playing down there so we were playing a little lackadaisical. We were also making fouls that we shouldn’t have been making.”

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