Holbrook welcomed in Page on Saturday afternoon in a match up of two of the best teams in 3A. The second ranked Lady Roadrunners took on the third ranked Lady Sand Devils and a hard fought game, which ended with the visitors victorious by three points in a highly competitive contest. Page came out of the gate quickly with aggressive defense and a hot hand helping them to a 19-11 first period advantage. Dakota Dick and Tyler Pacheco combined for seven keeping the Lady Birds in the game early. In the second both teams defenses clamped down with the teams combining for just 10 points, six of which belonged to Holbrook who trailed at the half 23-17. Holbrook came out strong in the third period with Madison Chappell scoring eight points helping Holbrook overcome the deficit and take a 36-29 lead into the fourth period. In the fourth, Holbrook’s lead moved as high as eight points and was still five points late in the game. Page executed two set plays very well, hit a three and two inside shots to take a one point lead late. Madison Chappell drove to the bucket drawing a foul and her two free throws gave Holbrook the lead back at 45-44 with under a minute to play. Page countered with Jacey Salabye hitting from close range and Holbrook was unable to score on their final possession. Page hit two free throws to seal the 48-45 loss for Holbrook, just their fourth of the season. Dick led Holbrook in scoring with 16 points. Chappell added 12; Pacheco, 7; Twyla Clark, 4; Matehya Aberle, 3; and Elena Smith hit one three-point shot. Holbrook made two from distance and went nine for 14 at the line. Page countered with three shots from deep and went seven for 12 at the line. They were led in scoring by Salabye with 20 points. As of Monday morning all the game resulted in was a shift in the rankings between the two teams. Holbrook dropped from second to third, while Page went from third to second, in a match up of what may well be a very late state tournament contest. “I think we were a little intimidated early, but late in the second we found our footing and our defense slowed them down. In the third I thought we played some of our best basketball of the season against a very good team. Dakota did a fine job of pushing the envelope and Madison came on strong in the second half as well. Down the stretch they just executed some plays on the offensive end a little better than we did. A couple of loose balls didn’t go our way and we missed some shots in the paint, which could have made the difference. Overall, not really concerned with the outcome of the game. It really didn’t have much of an impact on the rankings and I hope the girls gained some confidence in knowing that we can certainly keep up with what I think is one of the best teams in 3A. I think there is a good chance we could meet up with them again, but both teams have a lot of business to take care of between now and then,” said Holbrook Coach Greg Perkins. With the loss Holbrook dropped to 19-4 on the season and they are now 11-2 in regular season games leaving them ranked third at the beginning of the week. The Ladies will host Show Low on Tuesday and welcome in Snowflake on Friday. On Saturday they travel to Chinle to face a Wildcat team, which may be playing as well as anyone at the moment. Next week Holbrook will play at rival Winslow on Tuesday then wrap up the regular season at home on senior night on Feb. 2.