Newcomb girls top Pine Hill for Rehoboth Christian tourney crown

REHOBOTH, N.M. – The speedy guard play of the Newcomb Lady Skyhawks lifted Newcomb to the championship trophy of the Rehoboth Christian girls basketball tournament.

The 3A Skyhawks outlasted 1A school Pine Hill, 44-35, in the title game on Saturday afternoon.

“This is an absolute confidence booster,” Newcomb coach Nathan Brady said of winning the eight-team tournament. “At practices we’ve been telling them that we have to be sound with the ball and they displayed that this evening.

“They were able to move the ball and they gave up a good shot for a great shot,” he added. “That is what we want to do offensive, but more importantly I think we played good defense throughout the tournament.”

For much of the contest, Brady pleaded his team to run their offense. And when they did, the Skyhawks got some good looks at the basket from close range

“It’s a basic motion offense that a lot of teams runs,” said Brady of the circle motion offense. “There’s a lot of cuts, and everybody is moving at the same time and you’re gonna get multiple opportunities. If the opposing team stops the first cut, then there’s always going to be a second and a third cut. As long as we make good passes we’re going to be able to get some easy opportunities.”

The first-year Newcomb coach says his club has to be disciplined to run that motion offense for it to be successful.

“It takes the whole team to be on the same page to move the ball,” he said. “If they start to hold (the ball), then it gives a chance for the defense to catch their breath and they’ll catch up with you.”

Newcomb sophomore Lethia Yazzie cited the success rate of running that offense.

“It may not work the first time, but once you do it a couple of times that is when you start to get the momentum,” said Yazzie, who was named the tournament MVP. “It will start to come together.”

And although Newcomb found success running its offense, Pine Hill stayed the course for nearly the entire contest. The Lady Warriors led 21-19 at the break.

Newcomb took the lead for good minutes into the second half as they opened up a 28-21 cushion with 3:53 left in the third after junior wing Nihikinibaa Howard hit 1-of-2 free throws.

The Warriors got as close as 32-31 on 3-pointer from senior Leilani Charley with seven minutes left in the contest.

Nevertheless, the Skyhawks had a little more in the tank as they held Pine Hill to four points the rest of the way while scoring a dozen.

“Their transition at the end of the game was pretty fantastic,” Pine Hill coach Patricia Chavez said. “They just get up and down the floor and they’ll attack you. I think that’s their bread and butter and that is what hurt us.”

The Pine Hill coach also cited Newcomb’s ability to create shot opportunities close to the paint.

“When they ran that circle, we tried to go to zone but I think they would have pulled us out,” Chavez said. “At the end day one of guards did a good job of trying to deny it, but you can’t play off of it because they’re always cutting through the middle.

“Our second and third layer of our defense needs to get better, you know, to help the helper,” she added. “Our post wasn’t just rotating, and I challenged them to take charges for the person driving through the lane.”

Despite coming up short, Chavez says there were some positives to take away from the three-day Rehoboth tournament.

“I like to go to these bigger tournaments for the mere fact that they do play us man,” the Pine Hill coach said. “So, I think we’re getting better from a man-to-man perspective. I saw really good moments of brilliance when we were being patient and working the ball.

“But when people speeds us up, we have a hard time reeling it back to play our tempo,” she continued. “That is what I’m really trying to work on, you know, to have them play our tempo, play Warrior basketball because we can’t run with every team because we have some big kids. If we can pound it, we can hurt some people if we go inside-out.”

The Chavez-coached team was led by freshman Kirra Smith as she finished with 11 points. Senior Rihanna Pino added eight and Charley chipped in seven.

For Newcomb, sophomores Makya Nelson and Lethia Yazzie both finished with 13 points while junior post April Peshlakai added nine.

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