Whitehorse girls win Region 19 crown: Raider standout Keiarra Martin hits 1,000-point milestone

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

MONTEZUMA CREEK, Utah – There is a fifth-place state banner that adorns the north end of the Whitehorse High School gymnasium.

Last season, the Whitehorse girls basketball team earned that banner under the direction of head coach Joni Dickson.

Whitehorse is looking to add to that as Lady Raiders were seeded No. 6 for the upcoming Utah High School Activities Association 1A girls state bracket.

“We don’t want to hit our peak until the state tournament,” Dickson said. “That’s what’s going to count when it comes to state, but we’ve seen a lot of growth and potential with our team.”

In its regular season finale, Whitehorse received a game-high 33 points from junior shooting guard Keiarra Martin as the Raiders defeated archrival Monument Valley Lady Cougars, 72-61, in a Region 19 contest on Friday night. In the first meeting between the two schools, Whitehorse won 71-44 on Jan. 7.

Martin, who joined the 1000-point club earlier this season, was honored before the start of Friday’s game.

“It was a really special moment, but I didn’t think that it was going to be that heart-touching and warm,” Martin said. “Yeah, I scored 1,000 (points) and I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but until they started talking about me reaching this milestone and me getting a 1,000-point ball is when it kind of hit me.

“My whole family came out and I got balloons and it just hit me that I did this as a junior,” she added. “I know, it’s not gonna stop here. I know that I’ll have more achievements. I still have one more year left, so my next goal is to hit 1,500.”

Whitehorse needed all of Martin’s points as MV proved to be a tough adversary. The visiting Cougars took a 17-16 lead after one quarter of play with junior Malaya Blackmountain nailing a pair of 3s while senior Dakotah Cly added six.

For Whitehorse, Martin put in 11 of her team’s 16 points.

In the second, Martin was held to pair of buckets, but the Raiders had five other players score at least two points as Whitehorse opened a 32-25 advantage at the break.

The Raiders pushed its lead to as much as 42-30 following a free throw from senior post Keira Chee with 4:25 left in the third, but the Cougars chipped away at that 12-point deficit and trailed 50-48 entering the fourth behind Blackmountain’s eight points.

Despite a 4-0 run by Whitehorse, the Cougars were still in the contest as a pair of free throws from sophomore Nesbah Hunt pulled MV within 54-50 with 6:28 left.

Nonetheless, Whitehorse used a 14-3 run to get the separation they needed to pull away.

“We never can count them out,” Dickson said of Monument Valley. “They’re a tough team and they have a good leader in Dakotah. She is the person that we look out for.”

Dakotah Cly was one of four MV players that finished in double figures. Blackmountain led the team with 15 points while Dakota Cly chipped in 13. Seniors Ayainna Cly and LeighAn Atene both finished with 10 apiece while Hunt chipped in nine.

“I think things went better for us in the second game,” MV coach Vanessa Russell said. “We worked on a lot of stuff, and I saw a lot of good things from my team. We still have things to work on, but I’m proud of my team.”

Russell said she encouraged her team to get to the charity line. In Friday’s Region 19 game, MV converted 16-of-20 free throws.

“We tried to get more free throw shots by driving it in,” the MV coach said. “And then we just moved the ball a lot more, you know, to get their defense to shift. We did that for a while and that is what caught us up.”

With the 11-point win, Whitehorse capped the regular season at 17-5 overall and 8-0 in region play. This was the second year in a row that the Raiders finished league play undefeated.

“I really didn’t want to make assumptions because Monument Valley always gives us a good game,” Dickson said when asked if she expected her team to go undefeated in the region. “You know, this is the pinnacle of our season, our last home game and it was Senior Night so anything can happen. We don’t go into games thinking we’re going to win every single time.

“We always talk to the girls about all-out effort no matter what,” she added. “It doesn’t matter if we’re playing a team that’s 2-10. We got to start that first quarter hot and see where that goes.”

MV enters the state playoffs at 14-9 overall, which included a 6-2 finish in region play.

“I think we’re ready for the playoffs,” Russell said. “For this game, we went man throughout the whole game, and it was a challenge for them. They stepped up and I’m proud of the way they played.”

Boys

The Whitehorse boys had 11 players reach the scoring column as that depth led to an 87-48 win over MV.

In that runaway win, the Raiders made 11 treys, including six in the second half.

“I feel like we could have played a little cleaner basketball, but overall, it was Senior Night, and it was a rivalry game, so everybody played loose, and they had fun,” Whitehorse coach Alex Thompson said. “It was the last regular season game, and I just told the seniors to not hold back and just let it fly.”

The senior members led the way with Tristan Black pumping in a game-best 19 points with three treys.

Teammate Elam Etsitty helped with 13 and three treys while Brayden John and Alexander Thompson added 10 apiece.

Alexander Thompson scored the first bucket, and he capped the game scoring the last eight points as Monument Valley played with a lot of class, allowing the special needs player to score as many baskets as he could.

“The teams that we’ve played before have let him shoot,” the Whitehorse coach said of his younger brother. “Before the game I would let the opposing coach know that I might throw him in. You know, I’m just trying to bring awareness that kids with special needs can play, just like Alex.”

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