Thursday, March 28, 2024

Rock Point girls to play St. Michael in 1A finals

Rock Point girls to play St. Michael in 1A finals

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Rock Point Lady Cougar Christin Bahe (23) and a Gregory School Lady Hawk defender go after the ball Friday at the Prescott Valley Event Center. The Cougars will take on the St. Michael Lady Cardinals for the 1A state championship title in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz.

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Rock Point Lady Cougar Lara Begay (10) shoots the ball for the basket Friday against The Gregory School Lady Hawks in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

Rock Point coach Andrew Reed was not expecting a tight game on Friday.

He did anyway as the Lady Cougars earned a 47-44 win over The Gregory School Lady Hawks in the semifinals of the Arizona Class 1A girls state basketball tournament on Friday at the Prescott Valley Event Center.

“We watched these guys last week but they surprised me,” Reed said of the Gregory School. “They were hungry and based on their stats and based on what we’ve seen they came out a lot stronger than what I expected.”

Rock Point will play No. 5 seed St. Michael on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the PVEC. The Lady Cardinals defeated top seed Fort Thomas by a 42-41 count.

“St. Michael is a tough team and they are not going to back down,” Reed said.

St. Michael coach Carl Adams said freshman guard Ali Upshaw made the winning shot with a trey with 48 seconds left in regulation.

“Throughout the whole game I told the girls to not doubt themselves,” Adams said. “I told them to keep pushing as a team and fight like a family.”

Coming down the stretch, Adams said they played straight up defense and persevered.

“I called a timeout and I told them to be smart and play your hardest on defense,” he said.

Jalynn Smith led the Lady Cardinals with 15 points while Upshaw added 12.

Adams said junior post Delila Nakaidinae added five but she was a force in the interior.

“Even though she didn’t score a lot of points she had a big presence,” Adams said. “For every rebound she hustled and she owned the inside and a lot of girls had a hard time scoring on her.”

Adams is expecting a tough game with Rock Point, as both squads will meet for the fifth time this season. According to the St. Michael coach, the Lady Cougars have won every meeting but those contest have come down to the wire.

“We blew a seven-point lead when we first played them,” he said. “We have to do a better job at defending the three.”

Rock Point

As a team that hinges on its defense, Reed said they had a tough time converting in transition.

“We got some steals but we didn’t score that many points,” he said.

Moreover, the Rock Point coach was not pleased with their efforts from the free throw line. As a team the Lady Cougars went 11-of-25 from the charity line, which included a 4-for-10 effort in the last minute of the game.

“Free throws killed us too,” Reed said.

Despite those woes, the Lady Cougars advanced will be gunning for its first state title as they came up short the last two times they made the finals. Last season, Rock Point lost to Valley Sanders in the Division V state finals.

“They gave me a good scare but my girls told me that they told me ‘we got this,’” Reed said. “They pulled it off and out goal is to take that gold trophy home. I feel like they deserve it. We’ve been fighting all year long for that and no one can’t stop us.”

Senior post Roan Tsosie finished with 16 points to pace Rock Point. The Cougars also got 10 from Crystanya Begay.

After leading by as much as seven points in the first half, The Gregory School made things interesting in the second as the Lady Hawks took a 37-36 lead with three minutes in regulation.
The Cougars, however, got a much-need boost from Begay as she hit a trey with 3:35 left.

“I was waiting for my guard to hit that three and she sparked every one,” Reed said.

The Cougars got a little breathing when Tsosie hit two free throws for a 45-40 lead with just over a minute left.

That was when things got a little too close for comfort for Reed.


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About The Author

Quentin Jodie

Quentin Jodie is the Sports Editor for the Navajo Times. He started working for the Navajo Times in February 2010 and was promoted to the Sports Editor position at the end of summer in 2012. Previously, he wrote for the Gallup Independent. Reach him at qjodie@navajotimes.com

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