Valley girls basketball rallies past Horizon Honors, advances to 2A quarterfinals

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

SANDERS, Ariz. – For the seniors on the Valley girls basketball team, there was no hint of them quitting on Thursday night.

Even when they faced a five-point deficit early in the fourth as the No. 8 seeded Lady Pirates (20-10) used a 19-6 run to post a 45-37 win over No. 9 Horizon Honors (18-12) in the first round of the Arizona Interscholastic Association Girls Basketball 2A State Championship.

“All we wanted to do was win,” Valley post Eliana Swatts said. “You know, as seniors, it was just us five and we want to play again.”

The seniors consist of Alayna Begaye, Trinity Mitchell, Odessa Begay, Miquael Littleman, Nevaeh Benally and Swatts as the group played a central role in their come-from-behind win.

“Their goal was to get into the next game, but they were kind of discouraged, so I had to call a timeout and have them regroup,” longtime Valley coach Dorothy Mitchell said. “They didn’t want this to be their last game, so they encouraged one another, and they got that energy back in their system.

“We got a little complacent and I don’t know why we do that, but once they got motivated, they started to get going again.”

Horizon Honors, which settled for long outside shots, gained a 31-26 advantage after a trey by sophomore guard Alicia Londono with 6:43 left in the contest.

Valley chipped away at that deficit with Swatts scoring nine consecutive points as her 3-pointer earned the Pirates a 36-34 advantage with 1:58 left.

The Pirates then got a key steal from Benally near midcourt as her layup pushed the home team’s lead to 38-34 with 1:34 remaining.

Horizon Honors, however, made it a one possession game with Londono connecting on her fourth trey of the night that got the Eagles within 38-37 with just over a minute left.

Following a Valley timeout, Littleman nailed the Pirates’ fifth trey as the Mitchell-coached team finished out the contest on an 7-0 run.

“I just told them to shoot because we all can shoot,” the Valley coach said when asked if she was looking for a 3-point attempt following her timeout. “We had to step up, and for us to continue to play we all have to shoot. I mean, they’re all shooters.”

Swatts led all scorers with 19 points, which included three treys. Begaye added a dozen points while Littleman chipped in seven, which included a pair of 3s.

For Horizon Honors, Londono finished with a team-best 12 points and four 3-pointers while senior guard Josie Barden added 11 and three treys.

“They’re a great team, and I knew that we had to stay solid for another two minutes,” Horizon Honors coach Isaiah Ledford said when asked to comment about Valley’s late finish. “They had players that stepped up and we always knew that they could shoot.

“I knew that eventually someone was gonna knock down some shots and they did,” he added. “They hit the timely shots, so hats off to them, and hats off to coach.”

With the eight-point win, Valley advances into Saturday’s quarterfinals where they will play at No. 1 seed San Carlos. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The two teams played each other twice earlier this season with the Lady Braves winning both contests.

“They’re good shooters and all of them can shoot,” Mitchell said of San Carlos. “We just have to play defense, and then our offense will come.”

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