Devils make Sabercats work, but slip away in the end

By Candace Begody
Special to the Times

PHOENIX

Page’s game plan heading into the Arizona 3A state title game was simple.

“We wanted to make sure Sabino worked for their shots, we wanted to pressure the ball, control their two leading scorers, and control the boards,” said Page Lady Sand Devils head coach Ryan Whitehorse. “We did that. Defensively, I think we caught Sabino off guard.

“But we did have a couple mishaps where we fell asleep on some defensive assignments and you just can’t do that against a team like Sabino,” Whitehorse added of the Tucson-based team. “Good teams will recognize it and score on that and that’s what Sabino did.”

The two-time defending champion Lady Devils came into the state tournament in Downtown Phoenix as the No. 2 seed and it was a classic battle against the No. 1 seed.

The two top-seeded teams closed the first quarter to an 8-7 margin with Page trailing. Page closed the half with their first lead of the night, 18-17. Once again, the third was a close one, ending with a slight edge in Sabino’s favor, 27-26. Page continued their fight into the final quarter, but as the pressure intensified in the waning minutes, Page slipped away, handing the Sabercats the title, 42-35.

“Our girls came out and executed the game plan,” Whitehorse said. “We just came up short. We competed with them for 28 out of the 32 minutes of the games. All I can ask them is to play hard and play tough defense for 32 minutes and that’s what they did. We fell asleep on some possessions but there is a reason why some of those Sabino players have Division 1 offers.”

Page put away No. 10 Holbrook in the quarterfinals, 67-59, then No. 3 American Leadership Academy-Gilbert North in the semifinals with a final score of 37-35. Sabino also eliminated Chinle in the quarterfinals, then Ganado in the semifinals.

“We knew from the start that it was going to be us and them in the championship game,” Whitehorse said. “All season, I told the team, ‘Remember who you’re getting ready for. If we want to win state again, keep Sabino in mind.’ That was their motivation throughout the season.”

Page will graduate three seniors including Camryn Nockideneh, Ashlyn Adakai and Amber Clark.

“It was a very emotional night for the seniors,” Whitehorse added. “Camryn experienced four state finals in her career – she won two and lost two. She was the leader on the court, she got girls together in huddle, and it might not show on the scoreboard, but she led in emotional leadership all season.”

Looking to next year, the majority of this year’s runner-up team will return.

“There is a lot of promise with this junior class and with the entire program,” Whitehorse said. “We just scratched the surface this year.”

Returning next year will be standouts sophomore point and shooting guard Miquedah Taliman, and juniors Torrance Begay and Neve Redhair.

Of Taliman, Whitehorse said, “She is the best player I have ever coached in my six years of coaching. She is pure athletic, she has speed, she’s a ball handler and a pure shooter. All year I’ve been trying to get her to see that and how much of an offensive threat she is, even though she is only a sophomore.”

Taliman was tasked with guarding Sabino’s best player and contributed 5 points during the championship game. Begay led with 12 points and 6 rebounds, followed by Nockideneh with 10 points.

Redhair “showed leadership and maturity this year. She shared the responsibility of guarding Sabino’s top two players and stepped up defensively for us,” said Whitehair.

As for Begay, who was out with a concussion earlier in the season, Whitehorse said though she struggled in the championship game, “She really is the best post in 3A North and had a target on her back all year. She showed tremendous capability as a post and once she came back from her injury, she had double-doubles in scoring and rebounding.”

Ganado

Ganado was the only other 3A North team to make it into semifinal play, but the Lady Hornets were eliminated by the eventual state champions from Sabino on Friday, 39-32.

“We played very well 90 percent of the game and we had the lead, but they turned up the intensity and the defensive pressure,” said head coach Mike Bitsui. “That made it hard for us to score in the fourth. But we gave it our best and we knew they were going to make a run at us, and they did.”

Going into the final game, Bitsui said, “We tried to limit their best players, but other Sabino players stepped it up. They are overall an athletic and talented team. They just made more plays than us in the fourth quarter and you have to give credit to their defense.”

In the semifinal game, junior forward Jaiden James and senior center Michelene Coleman led the team with 11 points, while Coleman also contributed 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Guards senior Jayla McIntosh and junior Abigail Benally contributed 5 apiece.

Ganado entered the state tournament as the No. 5 seed, eliminating both Yuma Catholic and Snowflake.

“We came up short against Sabino and we didn’t reach our goal of winning state but there is no shame in losing to the best team in the state,” added Bitsui. “I am still proud of how far the girls came.”

Ganado ends the season with an overall record of 26-7.

ALA

The American Leadership Academy-Gilbert North, a team based in Gilbert, Arizona whose starting lineup is made up mostly of Navajo players, were eliminated by Page in Friday’s quarterfinals with a final score of 37-35.

“My girls were very well prepared but so was Page,” said ALA’s head coach Al Springfield. “I just believe it wasn’t our night or our time.”

This was ALA’s first appearance in the AIA state tournament. In ALA’s first year, the team earned the state championship title for the Canyon Athletic Association Conference. In their second year, the school opted the team into the Arizona Interscholastic Association and sat out of competition due to AIA’s transfer rules. This year, ALA was finally able to compete against other AIA teams and entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed.

“We’re the new kids (at the tournament) but at the end of the day it is still basketball,” said Springfield. “We have been playing it all season and I tell them we always have to be ready. We were ready for Page but it was just their night.

“We knew they were going to come in and punch us in the face, and we just had to weather the storm,” Springfield added. “For the most part we did that, until the last 15 seconds of the game, we gave up that big basket.”

In the last few seconds of the fourth quarter, Page had a two-point lead. ALA’s senior center Tiffany Quigley held the ball looking for an opportunity to tie the game, but a Page player knocked the ball out of her hands making way for Page’s win over ALA.

The team will lose five seniors to graduation including standout Tiffany Quigley, Alyssa Dudoit, Kyleigh McCabe, Keeli Kaye, and Hannah Markham.

“The seniors are awesome leaders and awesome young ladies,” Springfield said. “I hope everyone got to see what I see every day at practice.”

Springfield said the hardest part of the night was seeing reactions of the seniors to their loss.

“You have to watch the young ladies cry and they weren’t tears of joy, but we have just tried to remind them that they are still winners regardless,” Springfield added. “I also want to thank everyone that supported us this season, and those that came out to support us.”

Valley

In the 2A girls division of the state tournament, No. 12 Valley faced the No. 1 team and eventual runner-up team from Camp Verde.

Though coming up short in a semifinal matchup, Valley gave the No. 1 team quite a scare before Camp Verde outlasted the Lady Pirates in overtime, 56-49.

Valley opened the game with ease racing to an eight-point lead, but Camp Verde answered back and closed ahead only two points down, 16-14. The second quarter was another close one as Valley opened up the quarter in the lead, but Camp Verde stayed within reach and closed the first half with Valley leading, 25-24.

Once again in the third quarter, the teams traded baskets and ended the quarter 37-36, Valley again with the slight lead. In the final quarter, both teams kept it close and went into overtime tied at 46 points.

“We knew this game wasn’t going to be given to us,” said Valley’s head coach Dorothy Mitchell. “We knew it was going to be a matter of who wants it more. I told them, ‘You have to get out there and take it.’ We had a few moments but the Final Four is always tough because everyone wants it at that point.”

Overtime was plagued with bad luck. In addition to a technical foul, team fouls and turnovers, Valley also lost senior center Erin Mitchell followed by senior forward Nizhoni James to fouls.

“We lost key players to fouls in the end,” Mitchell said. “That really hurt us. They are our shooters and our leaders on the floor. They’re the ones that make the adjustments and they are our communicators. We lost that communication piece when they fouled out.”

Mitchell said it didn’t matter what seed they were and what seed they were matched with.

“We weren’t looking at teams as numbers,” she said. “That’s what I told the girls: ‘You have to think about the game of basketball. You have to play until the end of the fourth quarter, until the time runs out.’ We knew Camp Verde’s shooters and we knew they would feed off of their big girl.”

Valley will graduate three seniors including James, Ranona Nez and Makayla Gray.

“We played hard and they played with intensity all four quarters,” added Mitchell. “It is unfortunate we didn’t win, but someone had to win.”

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