Snowflake’s Lady Lobos are off to a good start under first year coach Joe Clare. The team dropped their first regular season game of the year in a tough place to play, on the road at Ganado, but bounced back winning three of four games played in the Phoenix Christian Holiday Hoops tournament over the weekend.
Defensively Snowflake appears to have things figured out extremely well. Through their first five games they are giving up just an average of 22 points per contest. That effort will win a lot of games at the 3A level. Offensively the team is still trying to get a grasp of the new coach’s system. While they have won three of the five games played, they are averaging just over 25 points per game. More than likely that number will grow with regular season games, but it won’t need to a lot if their defensive effort continues to shine.
In their season opener at Ganado, both teams struggled to score in the first half, which ended in a 12-12 tie. The Hornets found their stroke in the third building a double digit lead, but Snowflake battled back late in the game cutting the margin to four before the Hornets held them off for a 32-38 loss.
Macee Papa led the team in scoring with 8 points; Kaylee Coplan added 7; Shelby Larson, 6; Marynda Caldwell, 4; and Taryn Flake helped with 2 points.
Snowflake opened the tournament on Friday afternoon against the Alhambra Lions. The Lobo defense was stellar throughout the tournament beginning with this first contest in which they held the Lions to only 15-points in a 26-15 win. Their second game was won just two hours later with a 32-14 win over Tempe Prep.
Snowflake came back on Saturday with a 22-19 win over East Region rival Blue Ridge then closed out the tournament on Saturday night with a 16-24 loss to American Leadership Academy Queen Creek.
The team plays at Safford on Tuesday then the Lobos will see action in their second tournament of the season this weekend when they face Greyhills Academy in the first game of the Holiday Basketball tournament in Flagstaff. Next Tuesday the Lobos will host Florence. Two days later they will welcome in Valley Sanders. The Lady Lobos are currently 3-2 on the season and 0-1 in regular season games.
