Second half surge propels MV girls in title game
Navajo Times | Adron Gardner Monument Valley Mustang Kalci Gonnie (32) attempts a layup ahead of Ramah Mustang Cauy DuBoise (4) during the Striking Eagle Native American Invitational at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque on Dec. 30.
ALBUQUERQUE
Ramah’s Cauy DuBoise had an effective outing at the start of the championship game of the large school girls’ bracket at the Striking Eagle Native American Invitational.
The Ramah senior captain canned two treys and finished with 12 points in the opening half as she kept her team within striking distance of Monument Valley.
With her dozen points, Ramah trailed Monument Valley 32-20 at the break.
In the second half, though, she was held to three points as Monument Valley first-year coach Jason Franklin gave Alyssa Byjoe the responsibility of shadowing DuBoise all over the court.
“I have this mindset to where I don’t want anybody to get by me,” the Mustang defensive specialist said following MV’s 70-33 win. “I just stayed in front of her and I played really great defense on her.”
With players in the right spot defensively, MV came up with some key steals to break open the game.
“Communication was a big factor in establishing our big lead,” said Byjoe, who was later named the MVP.
After a close first half, Franklin added that his team did a good job of controlling the tempo.
“That is what we wanted to do,” the MV coach said. “After we watched them play we felt like we had a little more speed on them. We wanted to push the tempo defensively and see how that would affect them.”
Like Byjoe, Franklin said communication was the difference in the game.
“In the first half, we weren’t communicating as well on defense but in the second half, we did a good job of communicating and rotating,” he said. “I think that was the difference in us speeding them up.”
Offensively, MV had its entire team score with Tyra Johnson and Byjoe leading the way with nine points. The Mustangs also had Briana Gillis, Kalei Gonnie and Lakeshia Begay finish with eight points each.
Ramah was without the service of sophomore guard Kourtney Lewis and junior Deborah McMahon. With the two starters out, Ramah coach Whitney River had to bring up some young talent.
“They got their feet wet at the tournament,” River said. “When you have two returning players from last year not playing, it’s kind of hard.”
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