‘Team bonding’ is secret ingredient in Crownpoint’s recent success

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Jan 24, 2019 | Basketball |

THOREAU

With a 2-0 record in league play, the Crownpoint girls’ basketball team has put an interesting twist on the start of the district season.

On Tuesday night the Lady Eagles outlasted Thoreau 52-51 but their biggest win in District 1-3A play happened last Thursday night when they upset Navajo Prep.

“I think our confidence level is high right now but I mentioned to the girls that at any moment it can be popped,” first-year Crownpoint coach Khadijha Jackson said. “Even though our confidence is high we can’t have our heads too big to where we’re thinking we can’t be beat.”

Earlier this season, Navajo Prep defeated Crownpoint by 29 points during the Aztec tournament but since then Jackson’s team has been on a roll, winning five of their last six games, including a 53-46 win over Navajo Prep on Jan. 17.

“I think the Aztec (tournament) was our breaking point to where we had to change some stuff to get it going,” Jackson said. “We had a week off before the Prep game and I worked with the girls. They came together as a team and we did some team bonding. I think the team bonding really helped them and I think that’s how we secured that win over Prep.”

Crownpoint junior Candace Vandever said beating Navajo Prep was a huge surprise but after playing them close for the entire contest they knew they could pull it off.

“We just played together and we just worked together,” she said. “I felt like we kept our heads up and we just stayed focused.”