Tuba girls make easy work of emotionally charged Ganado team

TUBA CITY – On Tuesday night, the Ganado Lady Hornets battled two fronts during the first round of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s inaugural Copper Bracket.

The Hornets were playing without former head coach Galen Williams, who was relieved of his duties following a school board meeting on Monday night.

The other front involved Tuba City, as Ganado could not stopped the runaway train that the Lady Warriors were on, as Tuba pulled out a 71-38 win at the Warrior Pavilion.

“I know the girls have faced a lot, especially the past two days, but I’m really proud of their performance,” Ganado interim head coach Abigail Benally said. “Right now, I’m focused on just making sure we finish the season and making sure the girls are in an environment where they feel supported and cared for.

“I told the girls, win or lose tonight, you have a community that supports you,” she added. “Knowing that we have a strong support system, we’re going to recover from this because I know we kind of struggled mentally tonight.”

And while their spirits may have been down, it also didn’t help that the Hornets missed a bevy of shots.

“Our main issue tonight was our shots weren’t falling,” Benally said. “Even though our shots weren’t falling, they still hustled to get back on defense, so I’m really proud of them.”

Details of Williams’ dismissal was not provided by the Ganado Unified School District as the paper went to print.

Ganado will continue its postseason, playing in the 3A state bracket. The 16-team bracket will be released following today’s 3A Pool Play games.

“I really commended them for getting a chance to play in the Copper Bracket, because it’s the best of the best from 1A to 3A,” Benally said. “To be seeded in the Copper Bracket is amazing in itself. I know that we’ll bounce back, and we’ll get our confidence back moving forward.”

In Tuesday’s Copper opener, the Warriors erased a 13-10 deficit in the early going of the second and scored 16 straight points to start the onslaught.

Tuba received a pair of old-fashioned 3-point plays from junior Aubrey Begaye and freshman Nakota Tallman. Tallman then nailed a trey and that was followed by a 3-pointer from senior Eriana Begay.

Two free throws from junior Justice Nez and a transition basket by Aubrey Begaye capped the run as Tuba seized a 26-13 cushion with 3:55 remaining until the half.

“I think we started the first quarter kind of too relaxed,” Tuba guard Eriana Begay said. “We were not playing to our potential and after the first quarter we picked up our game. We were starting to play tougher defense; we were getting rebounds and we were pushing the ball.”

Tuba City first-year coach Michael Balcerek attributed that run to efficient ball movement from his club.

“The more we move the ball, the better our offense flows,” Balcerek said. “The only way that we can get those shooting spurts going is we have to keep moving the ball. But most importantly is we’ve got to play defense.

“Defense, especially in the 3A North, really dictates everybody’s offense,” he added. “That’s the one thing that we need to make sure that we’re doing for every quarter We got to be consistent with our defense.”

The Hornets made a push in the last two minutes before the break with juniors Jayanna White and Jasah McIntosh combining for nine points as Ganado cut Tuba’s lead down to 31-22 at the half.

After an evenly played third stanza, Tuba came up with another outburst as the Warriors went on a 17-0 run to start the fourth with Nez scoring seven while Eriana Begay added a pair of treys for a commanding 64-34 cushion.

The Warriors, however, did lose leading scorer Aubrey Begaye as she left the game with an undisclosed leg injury at the 7:43 mark.

Begaye led Tuba with 15 points while senior post Natasha Acothley and Eriana Begay chipped in 14 points apiece. Nez and Tallman added 11 and 10, respectively.

“We had everyone contribute by swinging the ball,” Tallman said of Tuba’s balanced scoring attack. “Everyone was making their shots.”

Balcerek said having that many players (five) in double figures bodes well for the team moving forward as Tuba takes on top-ranked Chinle tonight at the Wildcat Den in the second round of the Copper Bracket.

“The more we play as a team, the better off we’re going to be,” the Tuba coach said. “And what that means is everybody’s got to sacrifice the shots that they have been getting in the past, but it’s also making sure that every everybody’s satisfied.

“We want to make sure that we’re having an even game because when everybody’s scoring, it allows the defense to play off with certain people. That’s when we start to look at those mismatches.”

As for the status of Aubrey Begaye, Balcerek wasn’t sure of the extent of her injury, but he’s hoping to have her back.

“She’s one of our key players on defense,” he said. “She’s quick and she’s tall and she’s lengthy. She’s just smart overall, so we’re hoping for a speedy recovery.”

Balcerek is expecting another tough outing with Chinle as the Lady Wildcats won its opener with a 40-29 win over No. 16 seed St. Johns on Tuesday night.

Chinle leads the series at 3-0. In its recent meeting, the Warriors got into early foul trouble and dropped a 53-42 decision during last Saturday’s 3A North Regional championship game.

“Chinle is such a great team,” Balcerek said. “They’re undefeated for a reason. They have great players, obviously, and they have a great coach. They are where they are right now because they’ve been through a system for so long, and they’re very, very composed through the ups and downs.

“They just play the game, and they play very well,” he added. “The adjustments we got to do on our end is, first of all, we got to stay out of foul trouble.”

---