Chinle easily wins family rivalry game over Pinon

CHINLE

Buoyed by a 15-0 spurt in the second quarter, the Chinle Lady Wildcats ran past Pinon on Tuesday night.

The Wildcats evened their record to 1-1 after posting a 62-22 win in a rare matchup that pitted mother-versus-daughter coached teams.

With the “W,” Chinle coach Francine McCurtain owns a 2-0 record over her mom, Nellie McCurtain.

“It’s one of those friendly rivalry that we have just because she’s my mother,” the second-year Chinle coach said. “We both have a competitive side in our family, especially in basketball.

“We both love to coach and we both love to teach so we do the best we can and just show up,” she added.

The Pinon coach said there is a big difference between her program and her daughter’s.

“Her program is at a higher level,” Nellie McCurtain said. “She doesn’t have problems with the number of girls she has … we just have enough girls to field two teams so it’s hard.”

Despite the differences, the Lady Eagles played Chinle tough in the early going and led 4-2 on a basket by senior forward McElhiney Bizahaloni with 6:31 to go in the opening quarter.

The Wildcats nailed a pair of treys midway through the quarter but Pinon hung in there as they trailed 15-10 after one quarter of play.

The complexion of the game, however, favored the Wildcats at the start of the second quarter.

“I had to make some substitutions,” Nellie McCurtain said as the game went away from them.

By only going seven players deep, the Pinon coach said she has some players still learning the game but since taking over the program last season she has seen some improvement.

“We still have a lot of things to work on but they are catching on,” she said. “I’m hoping that we’ll do a lot better halfway through the season.”

Nellie McCurtain said she liked the way they played in the opening quarter but as her key players got tired the game got away from them.

That was when Chinle put on the afterburners as they nailed seven consecutive baskets with Aisha Ashley spurring the 15-0 run with a transition layup. Deshawna Yazzie and Grayce Claw added four points each in that run for a commanding 30-10 cushion.

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