Strong defense helps Ganado girls turn back Many Farms

BURNSIDE, Ariz. – After a tumultuous start, the Ganado girls basketball team seized control of Tuesday’s night game with Many Farms thanks to its defense.

The Hornets led 8-4 at the end of the opening stanza, and they eventually flipped the script with a resounding 51-27 win at the Ganado Pavilion.

“We have multiple defenses,” first-year Ganado coach Sharon Toadecheenie said. “We do change our defense, and our high zone defense pretty much bothered them.”

Offensively, the Hornets scored a lot of their points in transition with sophomore guard Jasah McIntosh tallying 18 points while senior Sheena Smith added 15.

McIntosh used her speed and dribbling skills to score 10 of her points late in the first half as Ganado led 25-13 at halftime.

“Ganado did a fine job tonight,” said Many Farms coach Tracy Todecheene, whose team dropped to 1-2 overall. “They pretty much intimidated us up front. We seemed to be one step behind in the second, third and fourth quarter.”

The longtime Many Farms coach was pleased with how his girls came out in the opening quarter as the Lady Lobos were coming off a 43-40 win over defending 1A state champs Rock Point on Monday night.

“I thought they were functioning, and they were running everything that I was asking of them,” Todecheene said. “They were playing solid zone defense, but eventually Ganado woke up.

“They started to do things that athletic teams usually do,” he added. “They were able to maneuver through us when we’re not paying attention on defense.”

Todecheene felt that his team stopped talking on defense, and that led to their letdown in the final three quarters.

Nonetheless, the Lobos kept the game manageable, trailing 15-9 thanks to a 5-0 run in the middle of the second stanza.

Things took a turn, however, as McIntosh scored Ganado’s final 10 points of the opening half.

“She was doing Euro steps, and she was doing things that boys normally do,” the Many Farms coach said. “When she did that, it opened up the court for them.”

Sheena Smith was one of the beneficiaries that McIntosh help set up as Smith put in eight of her 15 points in the third quarter.

“Those two players stepped up for us,” Toadacheenie said. “We were short four players and they didn’t play due to unforeseen circumstances.”

With it being her first year, the new Ganado coach is still implementing her system as she was hired one week after the official start of the basketball season.

“We had a late start with me coming in as their new coach,” Toadacheenie said. “We’ve worked mostly on areas on the defensive end, so we still have a lot to work to do in the coming days.”

The Hornets enter Tuesday’s away game at Holbrook with a 2-1 record. Ganado dropped its season opener to Page 40-21 on Nov. 18 in a 3A North contest.

“3A North is tough,” Toadecheenie said. “Not only are there good coaches, but you also have good players, so it’s a tough conference.

“You have to be ready night-in and night-out, but every game we’ve been improving,” she added. “Like tonight, we improved on rebounding. Our second half turnovers was less than what it was, so we’re moving in the right direction.”

Many Farms will be in action today with its second 2A North Region game with St. Johns. The Lobos dropped its region opener to Round Valley 47-31 on Nov. 18.

“We’re playing a lot of our region games early,” Todecheene said. “I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case, but I really don’t have much of a choice in the way things have unfolded.”

“I tried to get 3A schools within in the area to play us, and that didn’t work,” he added.

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