Page shakes off jitters, wins with late surge

WINSLOW

After shaking off some first game jitters, the Page Lady Sand Devils affirmed some truths about this year’s squad.

The Sand Devils faced a one-point deficit against Winslow late in the third but they used a 16-5 run to gain some separation as they walked away with 52-41 win on Tuesday night.

“We had to remind the girls about the team we’ve seen in practice,” Page coach Ryan Whitehorse said. “In practice, these girls are aggressive and they’re on the ball. For the first half we were missing that and we had to asked them ‘Where’s that team?”

That team showed up during that late surge as Whitehorse felt that his squad had a handful of empty possessions, particularly in the first half when they led 18-16 at the break.

“We missed some crucial layups and we missed about 10 free throws,” he said. “I feel that it was first game jitters and it’s something that we can work out.”

With it being the season opener, Whitehorse said rust was a concern even though his girls have been preparing for this season since last October.

“No matter how late our season started or how many practices we have under our belts, first game jitters is always gonna be there,” he said. “This is where we get to work out our kinks and get ready for that next team.”

Five players took part in that surge with junior guard Miquedah Taliman scoring four points while senior post Torrance Begay added the team’s first trey.

“We just woke up and we started playing our game,” said Begay, who led all scorers with 16 points. “Our offense started to click and we played better defense too.”

Winslow coach Jerron Jordan said they played strong for three quarters but Page “tighten their defense” as the Bulldogs were held scoreless for nearly four minutes.

“We went on a drought and that really hurt us,” he said. “You can’t do that against Page, the preseason No. 1 team. They did great a job down the stretch and you’re not going to get a tougher team like Page right off the bat.

“Playing them is going to make us stronger in the end,” he said, “especially with the way the playoffs is set up this year with seven region qualifiers and nine at-large bids.”

With Page having the size advantage, Jordan said the Sand Devils controlled the boards as they finished with 37 rebounds, 11 more than Winslow.

“That’s the other X-factor,” he said. “I told the girls it was important for us to control the boards because we’re not particularly tall this year. We run four guards most of the time so our guards have to be great rebounders.”

With his team keeping pace with the Sand Devils early on, Jordan said he was proud of his kids with junior Kylie Begay and senior Oniah Barton-Paddock finishing with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

“They made the plays when we needed them,” the Winslow coach said.

Nevertheless, he felt that Torrance Begay created some mismatches as she had eight early points in the opening quarter. Her presence also made a difference during their brief run as Winslow had to collapse on her every time she touched the ball.

“She really opened up the floor for them,” he said of Page’s post player. “That’s what an All-State player does.”

In addition to Begay’s 16 markers, Page also had five other players score with Taliman adding 13 and senior Neve Redhair and junior post Arianna Jenkins tallying eight points each.

“We lost some key players last year but every year we have different players coming up and filling those shoes,” Taliman said. “We’re able to rebuild every year.”

Whitehorse concurred while adding that his expectation as a coach is to play in the state championship game year-in and year-out.

“Our goal every year is to play in that final game at the end of the season,” he said. “We tell our girls that every year, ‘We’re reloading,’ and this year is no different. The girls that come through our program work hard and they buy into what we believe in and that pays off.”

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