Holbrook girls looking for a top 8 seed

FORT DEFIANCE

The Holbrook girls’ basketball team is working with a senior-laden group and a smaller lineup this year.

Despite being undersized, the Lady Roadrunners have compiled a 19-6 overall record, including a 5-3 mark in the 3A East following Tuesday’s 60-33 loss to Winslow.

“I have eight seniors, and I usually never keep that many because that’ll be a big rebuilding process for next year,” Roadrunner coach Greg Perkins said. “They’re pretty experienced. We don’t have any size, but my post (Shand Footracer) does a great job, and she’s only 5’7”.

“We have a lot of quickness,” he added. “We usually have pretty good depth, but like other schools, we’ve been hit with COVID. Our protocols at Holbrook High are pretty strict.”

Perkins said there is a 16-day sit out if you test positive for COVID. During the season he’s had six varsity girls out at different times. At one point of the season, he had four of his top six missing due to the virus.

Last week, the Roadrunners had a few of those players back when they played Window Rock.

“I gained two, and I lost one, and she’s going to be out until the state tournament,” Perkins said. “We’re shuffling our lineup a little bit, and it gives our younger girls a lot of on-court varsity playing time.”

Nonetheless, Perkins said he would like to get all his role players back this week to give them some experience before the start of next week’s state playoffs.

The Roadrunners closes the regular season at Show Low today and Snowflake on Friday.

“It’s going to be a big test for us, and obviously we’re a little banged up now,” Perkins said.

Based on Tuesday’s statewide power rankings, the 3A East is expected to get at least four teams in the state playoffs as the top 8 teams will get a bye into the 16-team bracket.

Winslow leads that group with a No. 3 ranking, followed by Snowflake (No. 6), Holbrook (No. 7) and Show Low (No. 17).

“I think there are three competitive teams in our region,” Perkins said of his club, Winslow, and Snowflake.

“But I wouldn’t count Show Low out because they can shoot, they have some size, and they’re well-coached,” he said. “We beat them by two points the other night, so they’re also in the mix.”

Perkins is hoping the team’s strength of schedule will warrant a top 8 seed, something they need.

“We need it for health reasons to get that bye,” he said.

Holbrook senior Abigayle Nez said she’s hoping her team can finish out the regular season strong so that they can build some momentum.

“We were down some players when we played Winslow and Snowflake,” she said in their earlier meetings. “We had like three starters out, so it was tough.

“This stretch is really important for us,” Nez said. “We’re hoping to win as many games as we can. It’s going to take a lot of hard work from everybody, but I think we can do it.”

And while Thatcher is expected to get the top seed, Perkins said there is no clear favorites this year to take home the gold ball at the conclusion of the state playoffs.

“You know, a couple of years we knew Page was gonna win,” he said. “It was just a given, honestly, but I think there are eight, nine teams, if they’re healthy and play well, that can win it.

“We’re hoping that everybody else can get healthy and get everybody back on the court,” he said.

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