MV Utah girls overcome scoring drought

ALBUQUERQUE

The Monument Valley Lady Cougars went nearly eight minutes without a basket, let alone a free throw last Saturday afternoon.

The Utah 1A school saw a 14-point halftime lead evaporate as the Coronado Lady Leopards tied the game at 38-all with three minutes left in the championship game of the 2017 Striking Eagle Native American Invitational in Albuquerque.

Despite that disastrous showing the Cougars managed to edge Coronado with a 42-38 triumph in the Roadrunner bracket of the three-day tournament.

“This was great win for our program,” said Monument Valley coach Terri James said. “We struggled last year as a team with the same group of girls. But this year they have showed a lot of maturity by coming together and playing as a team. It was a good win for them.”

The Cougars led 10-9 after one quarter of play but in the second stanza they gained some separation by outscoring Coronado 20 to 7 for a 30-16 halftime advantage. In that quarter, Monument Valley got six points from Jamika Nelson while her teammates Feunna Hudson and Ervianne Cly added five and four markers, respectively.

“We were moving the ball and running our fast breaks,” James said of their second quarter play. “We were playing good defense but in the third quarter we got tired. You could see it. They were slowing down and they were making bad passes.”

Nonetheless, the Cougars picked up their game in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter when Kaylin Bedonie and Cly scored two baskets.

“(Coronado) made a comeback but we held on,” James said. “They started to talk a little more and they worked together in which they didn’t do in the third quarter.”

Cly, who was named the tournament’s MVP, finished with a team-best 15 points while Nelson added 14.

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