Miyamura girls even district record with win over Gallup

WINDOW ROCK

The Miyamura Lady Patriots evened their district record to 1-1 by posting a 51-43 win over cross-town rival Gallup last Saturday night.

The Patriots had three players in double figures with freshman Malia Ukestine leading the way with 18 points. Senior Hannah Murphy chipped in 15 and junior Odessa Begay added 10.

“It came down to playing defense,” Miyamura coach Steven Gilbert said in a phone interview. “Gallup has a real solid scoring team. They average 50, 60 points a game and we were lucky enough to hold them down to 43. I knew that if we can play a defensive style game we could score and there was no question about it.”

Gallup had eight players score with junior Ashley Antone leading the way with 15 points while Kamryn Yazzie chipped in eight.

Gilbert said winning against a program like Gallup was huge as they hope to qualify for state at the end of the regular season.

“Our goal is to finish in the top three in our district,” Gilbert said. “Miyamura has not been to the playoffs when they entered 5A,” he said. “Right now we can make a push for the playoffs if we can continue with this goal.”

On Jan. 18, Miyamura gave second-ranked Bloomfield all they could handle before dropping a 38-34 decision.

“When we came out against Bloomfield we were actually winning for the majority of the game,” Gilbert said. “We ended up losing it in the second half and we ended up dropping that game by four.”

For the past two games the first-year coach said his girls were able to maintain their composure, something they didn’t do in previous games.

“We played a real tough schedule and our schedule prepared us for what we are facing right now,” Gilbert said.

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