Hoops galore: Area tournaments to start Thursday

WINDOW ROCK – For all the hoops fanatics, the first week of December is offering a fine selection of high school tournaments that all start on Thursday and ends on Saturday.

This trend will continue for the rest of the month before conference and district games will take shape in both Arizona and New Mexico.

Two new champions will be crowned at the Gallup and Page girls basketball tournaments as the winners from last year’s tourney have opted out at both sites.

“We’re bummed that Kirtland (Central) is not coming to our tournament,” Page coach Celeste “Boka” Claw said. “But I do like our variety. We have a couple of schools from Nevada and a couple of schools from Utah. We always try to make it as mixed as possible so that everyone is playing someone from out of state at least once.

“We have Coconino, Show Low and Whitehorse in the tournament,” Claw said. “Of course, MV is a returning team, and we have them again this year.”

Page opens the eight-team tournament with the Coconino Lady Panthers at 6:30 p.m. at the Antelope Canyon Holiday Classic on Thursday.

“I matched up with them for a reason,” Claw said of Coco. “We won’t be able to play them during the regular season, so I was like we’ll play Coco.”

In the next round, the Sand Devils face either Rancho (Las Vegas, Nev.) or Dixie (Utah).

“Honestly, I think that’s going to be a great game between Dixie and Rancho,” Claw said. “I’ll be watching that game. I’m not too particular in who we match up with.

The bottom half of the bracket has Monument Valley facing Whitehorse at 3:30 p.m. while Show Low takes on Sierra Vista (Nevada) at 8 p.m.

The championship game is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The Page boys is also hosting a tournament this week with the Sand Devils pairing up with Parowan (Utah) at 5 p.m. In the next round, Page faces either Shadow Ridge or Montezuma-Cortez.

Other first round pairings, include Monument Valley taking on Nogales at 8 p.m. while Rancho plays Estrella Foothills at 6:30 p.m.

The boys title game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

“The boys is going to have some out-of-state teams, too, so it’s going to be a fun tournament here in Page,” Claw said.

Gallup girls

The annual Gallup girls tournament features three teams from the 5A division with Rio Rancho, Piedra Vista and Albuquerque High competing. The rest of the field includes 3A schools Tohatchi, Thoreau and Tularosa as well as 4A Gallup.

Ganado is the lone Arizona school taking part of the eight-team tournament.

“The two metro teams are really, really good,” Gallup coach Todd McBroom said of Rio Rancho and Albuquerque High. “Rio Rancho has pretty much everybody back. They are pretty much similar to us. Albuquerque High I kind of picked them as the sleeping giant. I’m not saying they’re going to win it, but they are going to fly under the radar, but I think they’re a really good team.

“You’ve also got Tohatchi and PV,” McBroom added. “And Ganado is a scrappy team, so it’ll be interesting to see them.”

The top half of the tournament gets underway with Thoreau playing Albuquerque High at 1 p.m., followed by the Ganado and Rio Rancho matchup at 2:30 p.m.

“I really don’t know who is going to come out of that one,” McBroom said of the Ganado-Rio Rancho contest. “That’s going to be a coinflip either way. Both have really good programs, and both have a lot of success. They’ve been consistent so that game could go either way.”

In the evening session, Piedra Vista plays Tohatchi at 6 p.m., followed by the Gallup and Tularosa game at 7:30 p.m.

Gallup, which is led by all-state senior post Rylie Whitehair, lost to the Window Rock Lady Scouts in last year’s tournament finale with an underdeveloped backcourt.

“Last year I thought we struggled a little bit at the guard,” McBroom said. “But we gained a whole bunch of experience last year and we gained a whole bunch of experience through the summer.

“Our guards, they’re up to par now,” McBroom said. “It took a year of development. A lot of them are sophomores and a couple of them upper classmen.”

The tournament finale is slated for Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Rehoboth Christian boys

The Rehoboth Christian boys tournament has two Arizona teams in the mix with the Rock Point Cougars opening the tournament with Zuni at 3 p.m.

Ganado will take on Ramah at 4:30 p.m., followed by the Rehoboth and NACA/Evangel matchup at 6 p.m. and the Tohatchi/Hózhó Academy game at 7:30 p.m.

“We’ve been practicing for two weeks, so these early tournaments is more about figuring out what your team is going to be doing, and what you need to do to be successful,” Rehoboth coach Kevin Zwiers said. “We’re excited to have eight teams coming to get three games in three days. We’re gonna learn a lot.”

Despite losing 10 seniors last season, Rehoboth is looking to get back into the finals as the Lynx came up short to Tularosa last year. Zwiers returns three players that have varsity experience in senior Matthew Olguin and juniors Trajen West and Kodah Chapman.

Shiprock tourneys

The Shiprock boys and girls hoops tournament has a small school flare to it with a handful of 1A and 2A teams competing.

“It’s going to fun, it’s going to be exciting,” Shiprock boys coach Larenson Henderson said. “I’m looking forward to it, and it’s going to be the opening season for us.

“The Chieftain tournament is always a fun atmosphere to play at,” he added. “We always give out great tournament shirts and awards. It’s a fun time for all these teams to come.”

The boys tournament features Tsé Yi’ Gai, Pine Hill, Whitehorse, Shiprock NW, Cuba, Monument Valley (Utah) and Navajo Prep.

The pairings for the top half of the bracket has Pine Hill taking on Whitehorse at 1 p.m. and Shiprock playing Tsé Yi’ Gai at 7 p.m.

In the bottom half, defending 3A state champs Navajo Prep takes on Shiprock NW at 4 p.m. and Cuba matching up with Utah’s MV Cougars at 10 a.m.

“I like that Prep is back in our tournament,” Henderson said. “Whitehorse is in the tournament and Cuba is going to have another go at it.”

Like most coaches, Henderson is eager to see where his team stands.

“I really don’t know what to say about our boys right now,” the Shiprock coach said. “Let’s get the games going, so that way I can start seeing where my boys are at.”

The boys championship game will be played on Saturday at 7 p.m.

In the girls bracket, the Lady Chieftains is paired up Hózhó Academy as that quarterfinal matchup is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Shiprock will face either Montezuma-Cortez or Shiprock NW in the next round as the latter two teams face off at 11:30 a.m.

The bottom half of the bracket has Bloomfield taking on Monument Valley (Utah) at 2:30 p.m. and Navajo Prep matching up with Aztec at 8:30 a.m.

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