Newcomb girls get red-hot from 3-point line to score win over Crownpoint

CROWNPOINT – A minor nuisance from behind the 3-point line turned into major victory for the Newcomb girls basketball team.

On Saturday, the Lady Skyhawks struggled to hit a 3 in the opening half, but they nailed eight treys in the second half to upend Crownpoint 54-49.

“In the first half we were dying by it,” first-year Newcomb coach Nathan Brady said. “We couldn’t get our shots to drop. We just had to get back to the fundamentals of shooting the ball, you know, with squaring up to the basket and setting our feet and following through.

“At times, we didn’t do that, and we just forced things,” he added. “When we have our fundamentals down, we’re a good shooting team.”

The Crownpoint girls can attest to that as Newcomb erased an 11-point, third-quarter deficit and tied the contest at 39-all heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Eagles gained a 33-22 edge with 4:58 to go in the third following a basket by junior Miley McMillian.

That double-digit lead vanished as Newcomb sophomore Lethia Yazzie got hot from outside. Yazzie hit back-to-back 3s that ignited a 17-6 run for Newcomb.

Coupled with an earlier 3 to start the second half and another one with 2:35 left in the third, Yazzie poured in 14 of her game-high 22 points in said quarter.

“I was shooting pretty confident,” Yazzie said. “Once I get a shot going, I have that feeling that all my shots are gonna fall in.”

Late a third, the Eagles slapped a box-and-one on Yazzie, but the Skyhawks had other that stepped up.

After tying the contest at 39-all heading into the fourth, the Brady-coached team received some big 3s from freshman Delshay Henio and sophomore Makya Yazzie for a 45-39 cushion.

“I’m really proud of my team,” Yazzie said. “They went to a box-and-one, but I knew my team could handle the pressure without me.”

The Eagles cut that six-point deficit to 47-45 and 49-47 late in the fourth but that was as close as they would get as Newcomb got its 10th trey from Yazzie at the 1:01 mark as that basket opened up a 54-48 cushion.

“We kind of fell apart there at the end,” Crownpoint coach Byron Murphy said. “The little things is what cost us. We made a couple of bad passes and I think the girls got fatigued and that got the best of them.”

The first-year coach lamented on the missed opportunities they had as Crownpoint committed several unforced turnovers when they were looking to score in transition. Some of the passes they made were either underthrown over overthrown.

“I think we were trying to do a little too much,” Murphy said. “At the same time we were feeding off the crowd, and it kind of pushed them to where we were making mistakes.”

The Eagles were led by junior Courtney Craig and senior Arabela Balicat as the two veterans combined for 29 points with Craig putting up a team-high 15 points.

On Tuesday night, the Eagles dropped a 55-35 decision to Navajo Prep as Crownpoint enters Thursday’s away game with Thoreau at 9-10 overall and 1-4 in District 1-3A play.

“It’s really important that we get some wins,” Murphy said. “Basketball is all in the mind, and one thing we got to do is get the girls strong mentally. No doubt about it, the wins will help.

“We just have to take care of business,” he added.

On Tuesday, Newcomb ran its record to 15-4 overall and 4-1 in district play after posting a 58-48 win over Zuni.

The Lady Skyhawks travel to Farmington to face district leader Navajo Prep (14-5, 5-0) on Thursday.

“We got to take that concept of showing up because no team is going to roll over for you and give you the win,” Brady said. “They’re going to come out. Every team in this district is very competitive.

“It could be anyone’s night,” he added. “It depends if the ball is falling for you, but you have to play solid defense because you can be on the losing end of it.”

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