Top-ranked Tohatchi rallies past district rival Navajo Prep in barnburner

TOHATCHI

The supercharged rivalry between Tohatchi and Navajo Prep girls lived up to its billing on Wednesday night.

The top-ranked Class 3A Lady Cougar basketball team stunned Navajo Prep with a decisive 14-2 run early in the fourth quarter as Tohatchi rallied for a 38-36 win before a full-capacity crowd at Tohatchi High School.

“I’m so proud of the ladies,” said Tohatchi coach Tanisha Bitsoi, who is in her 13th year at the helm. “We were down, but the resiliency of this group showed in those last few minutes. You know, we didn’t start exactly how I thought we should have coming into this season with our state championship win last year.

“We didn’t carry that over, but I feel like we’re headed in the right direction,” she added. “The girls are starting to have that competitive fire and they’re starting to understand who they are.”

The fifth-ranked Navajo Prep girls had Tohatchi on the ropes as senior forward Aniya Johnson ran rampant by netting 11 of her team-best 15 points in the third quarter.

After taking a 20-16 halftime lead, the visiting Lady Eagles buried three treys – two by Johnson – for a 31-19 lead with 2:48 left in the third.

Johnson added a free throw and a two-point bucket that put ‘Prep ahead 34-24.

Tohatchi, however, received a spark from Brooke Badonie as the senior guard poured in half of her game-best 20 points during a five-minute scoring spurt.

She started the decisive run with a basket at the tail end of the third stanza that cut Navajo Prep’s lead down to 34-26 heading into the final period.

The Cougars cashed in a pair of close-range buckets from junior WynterRose Sheka (14 points) and senior Crra Cecil to start the fourth. Bedonie then took over as she scored eight straight, which included back-to-back threes.

Her second trey at the 5:08 mark put Tohatchi ahead for good at 36-34.

Bedonie added an insurance bucket a minute later as Navajo Prep finally broke an eight-minute scoring drought with an inside basket from junior Lailah McGary with under two minutes left.

“We had a breakdown on defense,” longtime Navajo Prep coach Rainy Crisp said. “We were getting beat on the ball, which led to us scrambling. Our defense has to get a lot better.

“We just have to take more pride in our defense,” she added.

The Eagles was held to two points in that final quarter. They attempted nine shots, including seven from long range to no avail.

“I think we relied too much on the outside,” Crisp said of their shot selections. “We needed to attack a little more to get to the free throw line.”

Despite scoring only two points, the Eagles had a few opportunities to tie the contest in the closing moments. A steal from Tru Billie near midcourt with less than 15 seconds could have altered the outcome, but Badonie retrieved the ball in the strangest way.

The Tohatchi guard was attempting to pass the ball to a teammate and in doing so she fell to the floor as Billie picked off her pass. In the ensuing sequence, Badonie stole the ball back while in the seated position.

“It’s just her court awareness and basketball IQ,” the Tohatchi coach said of her pupil. “She made a smart play and she just refused to let her team lose tonight.”

The two squads will play each other again on Feb. 7, this time at Navajo Prep in Farmington. They could possibly meet another two or three times in postseason play.

“This rivalry has grown since my second year taking over the program,” Bitsoi said. “It’s always fun to play them. Now, we have to play at their place. We just have to take it one game at a time.

“We have to stay true to what we’re doing and just remain humble,” she added.

Like her counterpart, Crisp is looking forward to the rematch next month.

“This is an exciting way to start the district season,” she said. “Their crowd is amazing and like I’ve said before this is a hard place to play. We got this game out of the way, and now they have to come to our house.”

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