Lady Pirates roll into the new year with confidence

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

WINGATE, N.M. – The Valley girls basketball team is looking to set some new goals as we roll into the new year.

The Lady Pirates have won six straight games by double digits since losing to San Carlos by a 55-46 count on Dec. 20.

Four of those wins came during the 28th Annual Yvonne Johnson Memorial Shootout Dec. 29-30 as Valley was crowned the champions of the 12-team tournament.

The Pirates followed up that tournament win with victories over Wingate (77-41) on Friday, Jan. 2, and Red Mesa (60-19) on Monday.

Against Wingate, the Pirates overcame a sluggish start before they pulled away in the second stanza.

“Coming off that tournament, their confidence was up,” Valley coach Dorothy Mitchell said of her veteran squad that includes six seniors that have been with the varsity program for four years.

“They played good defense, and they kept the pressure on,” she said. “They didn’t let up and they finished out the game strong.”

Trinity Mitchell led all scorers with 31 points as the Valley senior hit five treys. She received some help with senior guard Alayna Begaye adding 15 while Nevaeh Benally chipped in eight.

“I think I did good scoring-wise, but I could have done better on the defensive end,” Trinity said.

Dorothy said it’s the first time this season that her granddaughter has scored that many points.

“Trinity has improved a lot,” Dorothy said. “Physically, she able to last the whole game and not get tired, so she’s mentally prepared herself.

“She has the mindset of wanting to take her game to the next level, so she’s been working a lot on her skills,” she added. “She’s improved on her pump fakes and just pressuring the ball. She’s working hard at seeing the ball and visualizing the court.”

Trinity scored 15 of her points in the opening half, but it took a while for the Pirates to get going as Wingate came out with the same intensity that Valley had early on. The contest was tied at 6-all midway through the opening quarter, but Trinity started to assert herself with a 5-0 run that helped Valley to a 16-10 advantage going into the second stanza.

She then hit a pair of 3s in the second with the Pirates stretching their lead to 27-13 with 3:25 to go. Defensively, Valley switched between a 3-2 zone defense into a press with the former being the most effective.

“During the first quarter, they were shooting around the arc, so it was pretty hard to get there,” Trinity said. “Coach said we’ll go to a 3-2 and it will stop that.”

At the half, Valley led 31-17 and the Pirates put the game out of reach with a 27-5 run during a nine-minute stretch in the third and fourth quarter.

Wingate was led by senior Cheyenne Gordo as she reached double figures with 14 points. Senior captains Keira Casamero and Rhianna Begay both added five points apiece.

“We need to work on more fundamentals,” third-year Wingate coach Lanette Johnson said. “I have a whole new group this year, so they’re still learning. I have three players that are returners.

“The outcome of the game was not what we wanted but these kinds of games are actually good for us,” she added. “It teaches them endurance, motivation, and determination. As long as we pick up the things that we need to get better as a group, it’ll help us further down the road.”

The Bears dropped to 4-7 overall, but Johnson is optimistic that her team will start to gel heading into the district season, which starts on Jan. 14 at Thoreau.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” she said. “We just need to communicate more, and offensively we just need to finish our shots. We’re getting those easy shots underneath the basket; we just need to finish them.”

For Valley, the Pirates own a 13-5 record heading into Wednesday’s game with Joseph City. The Pirates are looking for a top finish in the 2A North Region.

Valley will start region play with Northland Prep on Friday, Jan. 9 in Flagstaff. They will host Round Valley on Thursday, Jan. 15 for its second region game.

“We’re looking at Round Valley and St. Johns as the teams to beat,” Dorothy said. “Those two teams are very feisty and very physical, so when we play them, we have to be physical as well.”

The Jan. 15 meeting with Round Valley will be Valley’s only meeting with the Elks. Valley will play St. Johns twice with the region game slated for Jan. 26 at Valley. The Jan. 29 rematch will count as a freedom game at St. Johns.

“We want to finish somewhere in the top 15,” Dorothy said of the 2A rankings. “We’re working on goal setting and hopefully we can make a run in the state tournament.”

With a veteran group, Trinity said they have their sights set on making a deep run.

“We want to try and make at least the final four,” Trinity said.

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