North teams fall short in all-star games

ALBUQUERQUE

Everything looked good for the New Mexico High School Coaches Association 3A/4A North girls’ basketball team, but they fell short to the South, 98-57, last weekend.

Kalian Mitchell from Tohatchi said it was frustrating but the team made the most of the experience.

“Everything was falling for them, but in our practice everything was falling for us,” she said. “Here we couldn’t hit anything. It was kind of hard to turn around the momentum.”

With just over 11 minutes left in the first half, the South led 25-11. At the half, the South led 55-29.

North coach Tanisha Bitsoi, also from Tohatchi, said things shifted early and it was hard to get out of the funk.

“They were hitting everything,” she said. “I don’t think they missed. The basket was huge for them.

“But in no way can we say anything, it was just fun,” she said. “I hope they enjoyed every time they were out there.”

South coach Joe Bailey, from Moriarty, said his team was operating on all cylinders.

He said their bond as a team and good defense played huge roles.

“I think it’s unusual in an all-star game to get people to come together as one group and they did that all week,” he said. “They cared about each other, they really shared the ball … As good as basketball players as they are, they’re better people.”

Bitsoi said it was difficult to get different players to play together, but she didn’t feel her team bonded any less.

“With an all-star game you just don’t know,” she said. “There’s different personalities, different talents coming into one team.

“The most important thing we take away form this week is not the score, but the friendship and the relationships that we built in these past three days,” she said. “That will be their memory coming in here.”

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