MV Utah slams against toughest region in state

WINDOW ROCK

The best region in Utah 1A girls’ basketball showed its dominance at this year’s state playoffs.

That’s according to Monument Valley coach Terri James as her team came up short to two members from Region 20, including eventual state champs Milford in the quarterfinals.

“It’s the toughest region in the state,” James said. “They have Milford, Wayne, Piute, Valley and Panguitch all in one region. It’s a very competitive region.”

James said they don’t get to see those teams during the season except for the preview state tournament at the beginning of the season and at state.

“It just varies from region to region but that region has always been strong,” she said, while noting that their region in not as strong.

In the state quarterfinal game, the James-coached team fell short to Milford by a 49-46 count that sent the Cougars to the consolation bracket as they placed seventh overall.

“We just couldn’t close out that game,” James said. “We had some passing errors and we just couldn’t get our running game going. We kind of struggled with (Milford’s) set defense. It’s funny because one of the players said ‘I wish they would just press us,’ because we like to run.”

James said it was hard to prepare for Milford, a team that likes to play physical.

“They’re a real strong team and one of my freshman players who plays underneath struggled,” she said. “She didn’t think it was going to be this intense so I know for that game she was kind of like a deer in front of headlights.”

Following that three-point setback, the Cougars bounced back with a 58-35 win over region rival Whitehorse, a team that likes to run.

“The girls were joking with the referees and they asked them if they were ready to run,” James said. “The refs were looking them like OK and one of the refs asked, ‘When do they ever slow down?’

“They’re not used that kind of running,” she added.

In their final game, MV came up short 63-53 to Orderville Valley, a team from Region 20. James said this was the fourth time they played Valley as the Lady Buffalos evened the series with MV at 2-2.

And although they were hoping to place higher at state this year, James said they had a successful season nonetheless.

“I think we had a pretty good season,” she said, while noting that this year’s squad was a pretty special group.

“They worked super hard and a lot of them did weight training and they conditioned themselves all year for the basketball season,” she said. “I’ve coached other teams in the past to where they didn’t like to practice but these girls liked to practice.”

James credited the senior class of Jamika Nelson, Tanisha Cowboy and Christel Tsosie for leading the team as they contributed in different ways.

“Jamika has been tremendous as far as offense goes,” James said. “We’re really going to miss her next year and she contributes at least 20-plus points every game.”

James said Cowboy was the defensive specialist but her main job was pointing the team in the right direction.

“She was our traffic director out there,” she said of her pupil. “She verbalizes the game to a lot for the girls in what they need to do.”

In addition to being a team leader, James said Cowboy was one of the team’s top rebounders.

As for Tsosie, the MV coach said she provided encouragement to the team.

“Christel is the one that pushed everyone,” James said. “She motivated everyone and we’re going to miss all of them.”

Despite losing three quality individuals, the MV coach is optimistic about next season as she returns a team that was mostly comprised of freshmen and sophomores.

“We’ll have some experience coming back,” she said. “The junior high team that is coming up is pretty good too. We’ll have a lot of tall girls coming from the junior high program and we’re looking forward to that.”

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