Whitehorse girls off to a good start

SHIPROCK

The fallout of taking a year off due to the pandemic is not hurting the Whitehorse girls’ basketball team.

The Lady Raiders are off to a 4-2 start, including a second-place finish at the 2021 Jerry Richardson Memorial Lady Chieftain Invitational last week.

“We haven’t played for a year but our girls were ready,” first-year Whitehorse coach Joni Dickson said. “They were wanting to get out there and play.

“It just feels amazing,” she said. “I have chills talking about it. Our girls are so strong. They can shoot, and we’re working on using their strengths and building on that.”

Born and raised in Blanding, Utah, Dickson took over the program this past summer, and her husband, Derick Dickson, is assisting her.

“I know before the pandemic this team was making news,” Dickson said. “They had a good squad. We don’t want to change anything. We want them to continue to play the style they want to play, which has always been fast-paced.”

At the Shiprock tournament, the Raiders won its first game by a 56-28 count over Navajo Pine.

That win set them up against tournament host Shiprock in the semis, and the Raiders reached the title game with a 50-41 triumph despite trailing 9-0 at the start of last Friday’s contest.

“It was intense,” Derick said. “Shiprock was playing rezball with us, and we had to go with it, and we did. We told them that this is how (the Chieftains) were going to play, so before we left Montezuma Creek we huddled them on the bus, and we came out with a game plan.”

The Raiders had three players in double figures headed by Kailee Tohonnie’s 18 points. In the third stanza, the senior guard scored half of her points as Whitehorse led 34-22 heading into the fourth.

Whitehorse also got 13 points from senior guard Heidi Thomas while junior Shania Mitchell chipped in 11.

“We had to change our defense,” Thomas said of coming back from that early 9-0 hole. “Our defense really kicked in. We kept our game face on, and we dealt with their pressure.”

After that euphoric win, the Raiders fell short to Navajo Prep by a 48-27 count in the championship game.

Before the Shiprock tournament, the Raiders played in a Utah 1A state preview game. Whitehorse went 1-1 as they beat Eureka Tintic High, 41-30, before falling short to Utah’s Escalante High in a tight 37-32 count.

“These girls have so much potential,” Dickson said. “We have three sophomores, and they have the maturity of varsity players. They came straight from middle school basketball because of the pandemic, and they have really stepped up.”

Dickson said the underclassmen are following the lead from her older players in Tohonnie, Thomas, and McKeeda Sam.

“They’re seniors, and they have varsity experience,” the Whitehorse coach said. “They’ve been playing so long, so they know what to do.”

Dickson said her three seniors are the teams’ go-to players, but she feels that her post players will contribute.

They include juniors Shania Mitchell, Terynn Toralita and Shelby Vasku, and sophomores Kadence Lansing and Shunbaah Begay.

“We’re really amazed with their play,” she said. “They were strong underneath, and when they weren’t scoring points they were there to crash the boards and play good defense.”

And although they’re undersized, Dickson said she likes their chances when they start Region 23 play on Jan. 7 against Green River.

“They have some tall post players,” Dickson said of Green River.

Besides Green River, Dickson said she’s looking forward to playing Monument Valley, Utah.

“They’re our biggest rivals,” she said, while noting that the two Diné teams vie for the prized hand drum in the Battle of the Drum contest.

Like her coach, Thomas said she’s looking forward to the rest of the season as she hopes to get her team far in the playoffs.

“I believe in this team,” Thomas said. “I think we can place high or even take state. We have some fast guards, and we’re quick on defense.”

And although they didn’t play last season due to the pandemic, the Whitehorse guard said they’re going to surprise a lot of people.

“It was a long break, so we’re hungry this year,” she said. “I think we’re going to have a good season. We just have to work together and play hard.”

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