Holbrook’s Lady Roadrunners had quite the season, which ended in the 3A State Championship game as the state runner-up with a loss to Page. For a team that had to replace six of last year’s top seven players, the team had an impressive campaign.
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Holbrook earned their birth in the final four with a quarterfinal win over Tanque Verde on Feb. 18 in Prescott. On Feb. 19 the team was informed they would be advanced into the title game with a forfeit win over Sabino who was booted out of the tournament for violating AIA rules. The following afternoon, the team learned they would instead have to play a semi-final game on Friday night after all against Chinle, which had been put back into the final four after a quarterfinal round loss to Sabino.
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“The whole week was pretty much a roller coaster ride for everyone on the team including the coaches. Following our win over Tanque Verde we celebrated making it to the final four, then finding out that we were now in the title game was bizarre. Thankfully, in a week of bizarre outcomes, the AIA did the right thing, in my opinion, and put Chinle back into the field in the final four. That decision made the final four complete and made our victory over the Wildcats that much more satisfying,” stated Coach Greg Perkins.
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Playing in the semi-final game at Gila River Arena on Friday night, the Roadrunners started well with five points from Megan Cummings and four from Matehya Aberle helping the team to a 14-8 first period outcome. In the second, Holbrook’s defense stepped up limiting the Wildcats to just six points leaving the Birds on top 22-14 at the break.
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Chinle made a quick run midway through the third and looked to build on a lead late in the quarter, but a last second shot by Joycelynn Thomas kept Holbrook in front 32-26 and returned the momentum to the Roadrunners. Early in the fourth Thomas canned a three-point shot and Holbrook’s defense put the clamps on the Wildcats outscoring them 14-6 in the final eight minutes to get the 46-32 win to advance to the state championship game for the first time in school history.
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“We struggled a little out of the locker room, and Chinle made a good run. Our young group of Talynn, Joycelynn and Sam Billie really gave us a spark at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth. They allowed us to give most of the starters a break, and they really stole the momentum away from Chinle and we never gave it up after that,” said Coach Perkins.
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Aberle led the team in scoring with 13 points. Madison Chappell added 10; Desirae Bain, 8; Cummings, 7; Joycelynn Thomas, 5; Tristen Ambrose added 2; and Talynn Spencer scored 1 point.
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With the win Holbrook moved on to the state championship game where the fourth seeded Roadrunners met up with second seeded and defending state champion Page.
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The title game involved the two top defensive teams in 3A and through the first period it played out that way with Page holding a 9-5 lead after the first eight minutes. Aberle netted four of Holbrook’s five points and Ambrose added a free throw. In the second, Holbrook again struggled to score netting just six points with Aberle counting for five of those. Page also struggled against Holbrook’s defense scoring just seven, extending their halftime lead to 16-11.
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“At the half we actually felt pretty good. Being down by only five points without Megan or Madison really scoring. They did a good job of taking us out of our sets, and we told the girls we just had to move more on the offensive end. Defensively we were solid, but the offense needed to find something. Page padded their lead by another point at the close of the third period in which they lead 26-20. Holbrook got three-point shots from Sam Billie and Bain in the period. In the fourth Page’s offense was finally able to find a crack in the Holbrook defense outscoring the Birds 20-13 in the period to win the state title 46-33 in a contest in which the game was much closer than the final score.
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Holbrook was led by Aberle with 14 points and she was also the game’s leading scorer. Spencer added 7, with all coming in the fourth period including a three-point shot. Bain added a second three in the fourth for 6 points, Billie counted for 3, Chappell had two free throws and Ambrose finished with 1 point.
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As they have for much of the season Holbrook struggled from the free throw line making just seven of 20 attempts. They did hit four three-point shots and made only seven two-point field goals. Page went 13 for 19 at the line and didn’t hit a three-point field goal until the final seconds of the game.
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In conclusion Perkins stated, “When you lose by 13 and you miss 13 free throws obviously that hurts a little. But give credit to Page, we have a good defense but they have the best defense. They were able to shut down Madison and Megan completely and really took us out of anything we normally do on offense. Matehya got some good second look points and buckets inside and Talynn was once again a spark for us, but we just couldn’t come up with the win. The girls played great for about 30 minutes, we just couldn’t hold off a very good Page team.
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“My girls are awesome and I’m so incredibly proud of them. If you would have told any of us at the beginning of the season that we would be playing for the state championship at the end of February most people would have laughed. But these girls just kept winning games. We finished the season 26-5, which is incredible for how young we really are. Tristen and Megan as starting seniors will be missed a ton. Tristen is our team mom and team rock. I was so proud of her for fighting back from her knee surgery in July and getting back on the court at the end of December. She is such an amazing individual who has overcome so much to get where she is today. She will be so successful in her life. Megan really had a great season for us. She matured greatly in the last year and a half and really became our top offensive player this year with her shooting. She really morphed into a star player for us. Yes she struggled in the finals, but without her we never would have made it that far for sure. I also have to give credit to Shilaine. She didn’t see the court much and never once complained. We have only three juniors on the roster and the rest are sophomores along with five freshmen.
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“Finally I have to thank all the parent and fan support we received not only in person but on social media, which the girls would show me. With the crazy week and the bad weather the girls still knew how many people were behind us. I also have to thank the many former players who either spoke directly with the girls or sent messages through me to give to them. This really is one big extended family that we have in the girls program. Also I must thank Circle K and their managers for providing drinks for those who couldn’t make it to the game and watched from the cafeteria at Holbrook High School, just one example of how the community was behind us. And once again thank you to my wife. She rode this roller coaster with us and was always there for me. We will be back next year.”
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