Tohatchi Lady Cougars blossom, earn first district title in seven years

FRUITLAND, N.M.

For the past four seasons, the Tohatchi High school girl’s basketball players, along with their coach, trekked their way up the hill and into the school’s gymnasium filled with district and state banners.

They spend their time after school surrounded by banners with names and years printed on them from teams before that left their marks on Tohatchi High School, hoping to some day do the same.

Someday finally arrived last weekend, when the Lady Cougars defeated Navajo Preparatory School 44-43 for the District 1-3A; the program’s first title in seven years.

The Lady Cougars also earned the No. 6 seed in Class 3A and will host No. 11 Dexter High School in the first round of the New Mexico state basketball tournament tomorrow.

The district victory was a dream turned reality for Tohatchi’s freshman leading scorer Kalian Mitchell.

“It feels great, it’s something I always wanted to do when I was little,” she said with a smile from ear to ear. “It just makes me happy.”

The team’s happiness was one found through seasons of turmoil and mental defeat, when they at times won less than seven games a season.

The team is made up of five seniors that decided to embark on the journey to a district title and state championship appearance along side a then young coach.

Tohatchi head coach Tanisha Bitsoi, who was fresh out of college when she took over the team four seasons ago, said the journey has been nothing short of a learning experience.

“Coming from being the basketball player I was (in college) into being a coach it was a really big transition…there is a huge difference and I didn’t realize that once I got into being the coach,” she said. “When I first came in, I was young. I didn’t quite understand some things about it, as the years have gone I’ve learned so much from other people.”

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