Miyamura girls rally, turn back Grants

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

GRANTS – Miyamura’s girls basketball team stormed back from a 10-point third quarter deficit to escape with a 39-34 road win over Grants Friday night.

Trailing 32-22 late in the third quarter, the road-weary Lady Patriots, who have played 14 of their 15 games away from home, closed to within six points heading into the fourth quarter. Then they put the clamps on the Lady Pirates, holding them to just two points in the final stanza for a five-point win.

First-year Miyamura head coach Vena Vallo, who served as an assistant for past 13 years at Farmington and Tohatchi High, was delighted with her team’s comeback victory after being without a game for the past two weeks.

“We kind of beat ourselves into that,” Vallo said. “Honestly, I think we should have won by more (points). We missed too many free throws (9-of-21). But we’ve been off for the last two weeks. This is our first game back from the break. Most importantly we’ve been traveling and busy on the road for the last two months since the season started. But that’s no excuse. We should have played a little better.”

The game was hotly contested for the first half with Miyamura (4-10) holding a slim 20-19 halftime lead after enjoying a seven-point 18-11 lead in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, the 3-13 Grants team looked to sophomore Promise Garcia, who finished with 11 points, burying successive treys over Miyamura’s zone along with five points from junior Amy Salazar to nurse a 32-22 lead. Miyamura was unable to take care of the ball in that period, with eight turnovers along with cold shooting: 2-for-13 from the field.

“Grants played a lot better in the third quarter,” Vallo said. “We just kind of slacked off defensively. I told them to play better defense and contain the three-point line. We let one person (Garcia) shoot lights out in the third.”

However, Miyamura, which returned four starters this season, closed out the third quarter with a quick 4-0 run on a pair of free throws from senior Jaylin Cadman, who tallied 10 points, along with a putback by junior Heaven Lee that made it a 32-26 ballgame. The Lady Pats pulled to within two, 32-30, early in the fourth quarter with junior Kaytionette Ross sinking a pair of free throws along with a basket.

An inside score by Grants’ Salazar, who also finished with 11 points, gave the Lady Pirates a 34-31 cushion only to have Miyamura’s Cadman pumped in a trey that tied the game at 34-all with 2:40 left. Ross gave Miyamura breathing room with a score before the Lady Pats went into a spread offense to run time off the clock. Ross, who led the way with 15 points, was fouled with five seconds left and sank one of two free throws that gave Miyamura’s its fourth win of the season.

“We stayed composed and disciplined,” Vallo said.

After going cold from the field in the third quarter along with key turnovers, Miyamura turned it around in the pivotal fourth quarter sinking 5-of-13 from the field along with just two turnovers. In stark contrast, Grants, which has now lost five of its last six, shot a miserable 1-of-6 with seven turnovers in the final quarter that paved the way for a Miyamura comeback win.

For the game, both teams struggled with their shooting with Miyamura shooting 32 percent from the field, 15-of-47, while Grants was 13-for-47 for 28 percent.

Miyamura played 5A Farmington this past Tuesday night for only its second home game of the season. The scores were not posted as the paper went to print.

Grants will travel to Pojoaque Valley tonight for its next contest.

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