Fast start secures St. Michael 1A title
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero St. Michael Lady Cardinals’ head coach Carl Adams (left), holds his team’s 1A girls’ state basketball trophy in the air and presents it to his cheering team Saturday after defeating the Rock Point Lady Cougars, 57-35, at the Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona.
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Rock Point Lady Cougar Ranisha Begay (32) sets up for a shot for the basket as St. Michael Lady Cardinal Delila Nakaidinae (23) attempts to block her Saturday during the 1A girls’ state basketball championship game at the Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona. St. Michael defeated Rock Point, 57-35, for the gold ball.
The St. Michael Lady Cardinals have been patiently waiting for this day.
After losing to Rock Point four times during the regular season, they felt it was their time. The Cardinals surprised a few folks in the Prescott Valley Event Center by taking full control of Arizona Class 1A girls state championship game.
After trailing 3-2 in the early going, St. Michael scored 17 straight points and never looked back en route to a 57-35 win on Saturday.
“I don’t care how many times we played them, we were bound to get one win,” St. Michael coach Carl Adams said.
The Cardinals capitalized on 11 Rock Point turnovers and put the game out of reach in the opening quarter. St. Michael freshman point guard Ali Upshaw and junior post Delila Nakaidinae scored six points apiece in that quarter with St. Michael leading 17-3 lead.
“That was all mental and all heart,” Nakaidinae said of their fast start. “We really wanted this and you know defense wins games so we had to lockdown on defense.”
In the next stanza, St. Michael put together an 8-2 run and extended their margin to 25-5 with 4:04 left on a layup by Upshaw.
Adams said their focus was to push the ball anytime they collected a turnover. A majority of the time, the Cardinals had very little trouble converting them.
“Their focus was to finish the shot and go in hard,” he said. “You either earn it at the line or earn it with a bucket.”
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Highway 264,
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