The Lady Roadrunners of Holbrook High School finished in fourth place at the Round Valley tournament last weekend, posting a 4-2 mark at the three-day event. Holbrook played two warm up games on Thursday, taking down Round Valley and Blue Ridge, then won the first two rounds of bracket play on Friday before falling to a still unbeaten Valley Sanders team in the semifinal round early Saturday morning. Facing the hosting Lady Elks on Thursday Holbrook played solid defense, holding Round Valley to just four first quarter points, then built as much as a 17-point lead late in the game before finally winning the contest 46-34. Aaren LaRose led the team in scoring with 10 points. Kellin Bakurza added 9; Shantina Kinlicheenie, 8; Kaynasa Curley, 7; Jessica Paz, 6; and Samantha Smith and Kenalda Quintero, 3 each. In their second game of the day the Lady Birds jumped out early against Blue Ridge, then held the Lady Yellowjackets scoreless in the second period to gain complete control of the game. Ten of Holbrook’s 14 players eventually scored in the 47-27 win. Kinlicheenie led the team with 12. LaRose added 7; Eriene Haskie and Bakurza, 6 each; Paz and Curley, 5 each; and Brittany Baldwin, Col’Bi Nez and Samantha Smith, 2 each. In the first round of bracket play on Friday, Holbrook met up with a very tall and physical Thatcher team. Facing down a 6-2 post player, the Lady Roadrunners were able to utilize their quickness and some hot shooting to pull away from the Lady Eagles in the second half, building as much as a 40-point lead in the third period. Holbrook converted 11 three-point shots in the rout. Bakurza led the way with four of those treys, scoring 16 points in the game. LaRose added 12 with four three-pointers. Starla Smith came off the bench to count two three-point shots in her 11-point total. Kinlicheenie netted 9; Curley, 8; Paz, 6; Tamisha Yazzie, 3; and Shandie Demuth and Samantha Smith, 2 each. That win put Holbrook against St. Johns in the quarterfinal round on Friday evening. Playing their best half-court defense of the year so far, the Lady Roadrunners took down a good Lady Redskin team 51-31 to advance to the semifinal round. Holbrook moved the ball well early on with Kinlicheenie netting six of the team’s 15 first period points. Holbrook’s defense held St. Johns to single digits in each quarter in the 20-point win. Kinlicheenie led the team with 14 points. Curley added 11; Bakurza, 9; Starla Smith, 5; Brittney Baldwin and LaRose, 3 each; and Paz, Charley and Samantha Smith, 2 each. Playing in the semifinal round against also unbeaten Valley Sanders on Saturday morning, Holbrook played sluggish in the first quarter falling behind, 18-6. In the second the Lady Roadrunners trimmed all but eight points off that lead. LaRose hit a three-point shot to start the second half, cutting the lead to just five, but the Lady Pirates moved out to as much as a 16-point lead late in the third quarter. Holbrook made a furious comeback early in the fourth, catching Valley, then went ahead by one-point with less than a minute remaining. Down the stretch a couple of defensive miscues left Holbrook on the wrong side of the 53-49 final score. LaRose led the team with 13 points. Bakurza added 10; Kinlicheenie, 8; Paz, 6; Nez, 5; Curley, 4; and Yazzie hit one three-point shot. Holbrook’s first loss of the season that morning not only took the Lady Birds from the unbeaten ranks, it also took away their legs for the third and fourth place game, which they eventually dropped to Alchesay 45-39. They jumped out early, but couldn’t sustain that energy level with their top rotation of players. Despite not playing with most of the starters on the floor for much of the game, Holbrook’s bench players still built a five-point lead early in the fourth, but a quick series of mistakes saw that lead vanish quickly and they were never able to get any closer than the final margin. Kinlicheenie led the team in scoring with 10 points. Bakurza added 8; Nez 6; LaRose and Paz, 4 each; Brittany Baldwin and Curley, 3 each; and Demuth, 1. “Overall I was pleased with the tournament. We didn’t play great basketball on Thursday, but still won both games. Just looking at the bracket we knew we were in the tougher part of the draw and figured we would have to get past Valley in the semifinal round to get to the title game,” said Coach Greg Perkins. “We finally broke out of a team shooting slump with a big win over Thatcher. Against St. Johns we played our best defense of the season against another very good team. “The Valley game was a tough loss. We figured this was essentially the championship game, with the upper part of the bracket not as strong. We weren’t up to the challenge of their team speed early in the game and it cost us. We fell behind by quite a bit, but it was good to see us come back. Our girls did a tremendous job in getting the lead back and we had a chance to win it at the end. Some missed scoring chances in the paint late in the game may have been the difference. They have a very talented group of guards and they are still unbeaten having won the championship game easily over Camp Verde. We face them twice in games that count for power points in January, and we know we will have our hands full. “Our game with Valley combined with three straight days of traveling and very little sleep I think did us in against Alchesay. The top five or six girls played well early on, giving us a lead, but it didn’t take very long for their legs to die and we had to depend on our bench to get the job done. The reserve girls played well and had a chance to win the game, but just came up short. When we face Alchesay next week at home with some rest I think this game will have a different ending, which is more important because it will be for power points this time,” said the coach. After hosting Mogollon in the home opener, Holbrook will be at the Winslow Winter Classic Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 15-17. Thursday’s pool game will be against Chinle at 3 p.m. in the old gym. On Friday at 3 p.m. Holbrook will face Coconino in the Petro Gym. On Saturday Holbrook will have two games, with times and locations depending on the outcome of pool play. On Monday, Dec. 19, Holbrook travels to Snowflake for a regular season game. On Thursday, Dec. 22, the Lady Birds will welcome in Alchesay in the final game prior to the Christmas break. Holbrook is now 6-2 on the season.