The Lady Roadrunners were victorious in their home opener, defeating Blue Ridge Tuesday evening, 70-44. The Holbrook squad set the tone early in the first period with full court pressure, which enabled the Roadrunners to build a 23-7 lead. Laurie Brown netted nine of her game high 20 points in the first eight minutes. Blue Ridge took advantage of some careless mistakes by Holbrook in the second to trim four points off the margin, but still trailed 37-25 at the half. In the third period Ariyana Pratt, who was saddled with first half foul trouble, ignited the team with seven points, pacing the Birds to a 51-36 lead heading into the fourth. In the final stanza seven Holbrook players found the goal while the Roadrunner defense limited the Lady Yellowjackets to only nine points to secure the win. “We wanted to come out quickly with our press and try to get things our way early, which we did,” said Coach Greg Perkins. “With this young team too many of those steals resulted in quick turnovers and not enough resulted in points, but those are things that take time to figure out. We have to play very fast and hard on defense, but once we get the ball, we have to keep things under control. “Laurie played like a senior tonight and was steady throughout the game. “Our quickness showed tonight, but so did our inexperience. Hopefully, this weekend’s tourney will help solve some of those turnover issues,” said the coach. Eleven of Holbrook’s 12 players scored in the game, led by Brown with 20. Pratt added 9; Quanyyah Lester and Aiyana Gary, 7 each; Tyler Pacheco, 6; Elena Smith and Dakota Dick, 5 each; Sevanah Bitahy, 4; Alishea Kee, 3; and Twyla Clark and Dishie Kinlicheenie, 2 each. Holbrook made eight treys and went 12 for 16 at the free throw line. Blue Ridge was led by Tyla Vataha with 9 points. The Jackets made one three-point field goal and hit 15 of 25 charity throws. The Roadrunners improved their season mark to 3-1. They will be in action at the Sedona Tournament this weekend. Games began on Thursday with the Birds playing at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Today (Dec. 11) they are slated for another 10 a.m. start and will play in the nightcap at 7 p.m. Saturday’s action will be dependent on the previous two days’ results. On Thursday, Dec. 17, the Birds will host Ganado. On Monday, Dec. 21, they will play their final game prior to Christmas when a very good Prescott team makes a visit.