Shiprock, Gallup girls 2 wins from blue trophy

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Almost nothing is going to stop the Shiprock High School girl’s basketball team from getting their hands on a blue trophy.

The No. 3 seed Lady Chiefs defeated No. 6 Sandia Preparatory School 61-50 in the quarterfinals of the New Mexico High School state basketball championships on March 10 at the University of New Mexico – The Pit.

They shot poorly and didn’t play the kind of defense head coach Larenson Henderson wanted them to, but it didn’t matter, as long they got the “W” and a chance to meet Hope Christian in the semifinals. The Lady Chiefs play Hope at 11:30 a.m., today at The Pit.

“Hope is really looking forward to it, I know that,” Henderson said, while adding that last season the Chieftains routed Hope 63-35 in the state semifinals.
“I think they want some revenge, and right now my girls feel the same way; we want some Hope right now,” he said.

The Lady Chiefs have some history with Hope as the two state powerhouses met two times last year with the Chieftains moving into the state finals where they fell short to Portales High School. Both teams seek vengeance.

The Gallup Lady Bengals are only worried about one thing: themselves.

At first glance, one might find it to selfish, when instead it’s strategy.

It is a strategy that has given them the No. 1 seed in Class 5A and one that helped them pick up their latest win over Belen High School in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
The Lady Bengals defeated Belen 76-33. They advance to the semifinals with No. 4 Espanola Valley High School today at 1:15 p.m., at The Pit.

Gallup head coach Kamau Turner said while shutting down Belen guard Mariah Forde was the team’s focus, playing their style of basketball was their priority.

“Really we want to make other people play how we want to play. If we decide we want to play slow then were going to make you play slow,” he said. “The main thing is we got to defend, defend, defend.”

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