The Lady Roadrunners picked up their second huge road win of the season at Tuba City last Thursday night, then gave away all that momentum with a disappointing home court loss to Valley Sanders on Saturday night. Facing the 10th ranked Tuba City Lady Warriors on Thursday, Holbrook, which entered the game ranked sixth, started slowly, trailing by six at the close of the first. In the second the Birds found the range from the field on offense, making four three-point shots, and played well on the defensive end of the court to overtake the home team and lead by 10 points at the half. Tuba trimmed all but two points off that lead in the third quarter, but in the fourth Holbrook made five of seven critical free throws down the stretch to secure the win. Holbrook was led by Teyah Goldtooth, who finished with 17 points. Shandie Demuth added 11; Quanyyah Lester, 10; Rochelle Nez, 9; Cheyenne Lester, 4; Dena Kinlicheenie 3; and Summer Olney and Tamara Yazzie, 2 each. As a team the Roadrunners made nine of 13 free throws and hit seven three-point shots. Saturday’s home court loss to Valley Sanders started poorly and only got worse. Holbrook struggled with turnovers and couldn’t contain Valley’s guards, who penetrated the Roadrunner defense to create scoring opportunities. With the exception of a couple of players, the Roadrunners really struggled from the field, missing open shots and layups, which, along with the turnovers, led to a 65-39 loss. Holbrook trailed by just six at the end of the first, thanks in part to Nez, who kept the Birds in the game by scoring seven of her team high 13 points in that quarter. Valley hit three perimeter shots in the second and Holbrook made just four regular field goals, falling behind by 12 at the half. In the third the Birds came out and played better, trimming the deficit to only 10, but the fourth quarter was a disaster for them, with Tilly Kelly’s three-point shot counting as the only team points in the big loss. Nez led the team with 13 points, followed by Kelly with 7; Demuth, 6; Quannyah Lester, 4; Olney, 3; and Cheyenne Lester, Yazzie and Kinlicheenie, 2 each. Holbrook made nine of 17 free throws and hit two treys, both by Kelly. “The win at Tuba was big for us in terms of power points, but the home loss dropped us two places. Now we need to come back and win our final two games to try to gain some momentum heading into the state tournament,” said Coach Greg Perkins. “Obviously, Saturday’s loss was disappointing, however, we are still in good position in the power rankings. If we can bounce back and focus on our final two games ahead instead of the past game, we can continue to improve our overall ranking and regain some momentum heading into the section tournament, which we will be a part of. “We are a little banged up, as are most teams at this point in the season. Now some of our bench players are going to have to step up their games and help us out for the post-season run. “If you would have told me in November that with two regular season games left we would be ranked in the top eight in the standings in the first week of February, I would certainly have taken it. That is where we now are, and we need to push forward. Looking at the total season I am proud of what the girls have done to this point. Now everyone, including myself, needs to elevate their performance for the stretch run and the post-season,” said the coach. With the split the Roadrunners moved their season mark to 20-7. Their power point record is now 12-4, ranking them eighth when the week began. After playing at Snowflake on Tuesday night, they will host Alchesay on Senior Night on Friday, Feb. 7. Shandie Demuth and Tamara Yazzie will be recognized as the only two seniors on this year’s roster.