Playing through the toughest part of their schedule, the Holbrook Lady Roadrunners suffered back-to-back losses last Thursday in Window Rock and on Friday at Valley Sanders. Against the Lady Scouts the Lady Birds played very well for 29 minutes, but the five-point lead they had worked so hard to get vanished in just over two minutes late in the game. Both teams played solid defense and went to the break knotted at 22-22. In the third Holbrook edged out to a one-point lead with six different players scoring. Leading 45-40 with just over three minutes remaining Holbrook collapsed under the pressure of the crowd and the full court press put on by Window Rock. The Lady Scouts overtook the Lady Birds, thanks to seven turnovers in a two-minute stretch by Holbrook allowing Window Rock to come from behind and literally steal a 54-46 home court win. “This was a tough loss to take. We had played well for most of the game, but some bad turnovers late in the game really got the crowd into it and it rattled us. This would have been a huge win for us, but we simply gave it away,” said Coach Greg Perkins. “Give them some credit. They were able to do the things late in the game they needed and made the shots they had to make when they needed them.” Heather Dudley led Holbrook with 11 points. Aaren LaRose, Shantina Kinlicheenie and Kellin Bakurza scored 8 points each; Jessica Paz, 5; Starla Smith, 3; Samantha Smith, 2; and Col’Bi Nez, 1. Holbrook made four of nine free throws and hit four three-point shots. Window Rock was led by Aspen Shepard with 15 points. Naomie Klah added 13. The Lady Scouts made 10 of 14 charities and hit four three-point shots. Holbrook 9 13 14 10 46 Window Rk 13 9 13 19 54 Playing in Sanders the next night, the Lady Birds took on a Lady Pirate team with just one loss on the season that had beaten them at the Round Valley tournament earlier in the year. Holbrook struggled on offense, but played superb defense in the early going, trailing 13-4 at the end of the first. In the second the Lady Birds trimmed just one point off the lead and trailed 21-13 at the break. After some halftime adjusting Holbrook came out and played much better in the second half. Bakurza found the shooting touch from deep, draining four three-point shots in the second half to put her team ahead by two at one point early in the fourth quarter. In the final minutes the Lady Birds again had a couple of costly turnovers and missed some open shots, which kept them on the wrong side of the 40-37 final outcome. Bakurza led Holbrook with 19 points, including five three-point shots. Kaynasa Curley added 6; Dudley, 4; Samantha Smith, 3; Jessica Paz and Kinlicheenie, 2 each; and Col’Bi Nez, 1. “We played great defense all night. We know they like to get things going from the three-point line, which is really a catalyst to their team. We only made two mistakes on our perimeter defense throughout the night, and on both occasions they made us pay with three-point shots,” said Coach Perkins. “Offensively, we have to start playing better. Except for Kellin, who played a stellar game for us, our team has got to start looking to shoot more from the outside and we have to start getting points in the paint. We only had 18 turnovers in this game, which is a low number for us, but we only shot 23 percent from the field, which just won’t get the job done against the level of competition we play. Last year Valley kind of snuck up on everyone. This year we all know how good they are, which is a testament to why they have just one loss on the season, which was to Window Rock.” Holbrook 4 9 13 11 37 Valley 13 8 12 7 40 With the two losses Holbrook falls to 15-8 and is now 7-3 in power point games. The Lady Roadrunners will host Alchesay in a make up game tonight (Jan. 18), then host Valley on Friday and Chinle on Saturday. “Obviously, we need to take care of our home court this week. Alchesay is coming in without a power point loss at 8-0, and Valley just beat us last week, so we know we have our work cut out. We have played Chinle twice in tournaments, winning both games, but each one was close. Our schedule just does not have an easy opponent left on it, which, if we can make the sectional tournament, should help us be battle tested, more so than most teams,” concluded the coach.