Playing great basketball

Bloomfield upends Tohatchi, 65-57

BLOOMFIELD, N.M.

When the Bloomfield Lady Bobcats met Tohatchi on Tuesday it was as if they were looking in a mirror.

The two teams were fairly matched as proven in the close start of the game, but in the end, Bloomfield did everything Tohatchi did, only they did it better, and it led them to a 65-57 victory.

Bloomfield head coach Tom Adair said his team did everything expected of them for the win.

“We want to hang our hats on defense and our offense feeds off our defense,” he said. “Our press and even our half-court defense, we want to make sure we execute it at all times.”

After a shaky first quarter, the Lady Bobcats did just that.

The team teams went head-to-head with Tohatchi (9-6) taking an early lead and Bloomfield (10-2) pulled ahead to lead 17-15 after one quarter.

Bloomfield transitioned into their half-court press that gave the Lady Cougars problems.

The Lady Bobcats forced turnovers that Tohatchi head coach Tanisha Bitsoi said her team had an oddly difficult time adjusting to.

“We gave them the ball on the press…for some reason they were bothered by that press and I couldn’t understand some of the decisions we were making, (they) were just uncharacteristic,” she said. “We came out exactly how I didn’t want us to come out, starting from the break.”

Bloomfield held Tohatchi at 15 points for the first half of the second quarter and gained a significant lead before the Lady Cougars interrupted their 14-0 run.

Bloomfield led 36-16 at halftime.

The Lady Bobcats continued to press and extended their lead to 50-35 after three quarters.

Adair said it was his team’s best display of teamwork that led them to a significant lead.

“Our half-court press worked really good for us and the girls executed it well, and we were smart on offense,” he said. “We passed the ball probably as good as we have all year long, we looked for each other, and that’s what we talked about: we don’t want to be selfish…”

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