Shiprock rallies past rival KC to earn top seed

GALLUP

Not much separated the top two girls basketball teams in District 1-4A.

With 9-1 marks in league play, the Shiprock Lady Chieftains and Kirtland Central Lady Broncos carried on their rivalry on Monday night as Shiprock put forth a convincing run in the second half to post a 55-40 victory.

With that the Chieftains earned the league’s top seed and they would have played Wingate on Wednesday night with the winner advancing into Friday night’s finals.

KC, meanwhile, would have played Bloomfield also on Wednesday night.

During that decisive stretch Shiprock capitalized on a few KC turnovers with junior guard Tanisha Begay putting in 10 of her game-best 20 points in the third quarter.

Her three-point play at the 2:19 mark sparked a 13-0 run that spilled into the final stanza as Shiprock took a commanding 44-33 cushion with 2:30 left in regulation.

“I think that was a biggest difference,” Shiprock coach Larenson Henderson said. “In the fourth quarter we finally got comfortable and we realized that we could score. I think the pressure was on them these last two and half games.”

With the recent rise of KC’s prominence among state powers, Henderson said the rivalry is alive and well but he felt that his girls got caught up in that.

“The rivalry thing is there and the girls just followed all the pressure that comes with it,” he said. “I think we are a lot better than that and it showed in the fourth quarter.”

Henderson said the 5-9 Begay took advantage of the mismatches, especially when KC senior post Krystal Sheka was sat on the bench for most of the second half due to fouls. Sheka was saddled with her fourth foul at the 5:23 mark of the third and did not return until midway through the fourth.

“That was huge,” Henderson said of Sheka’s foul problems. “She put up 18 points on us and she is one of the reasons why they are up there.”

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