The Lady Roadrunners dropped their first two east region games last week with both being close margins against teams currently ranked inside the top 10 of the 3A rankings. Hosting Blue Ridge on Tuesday night, the Roadrunners were sluggish but finished the first period trailing by just a point. Deya Guerrero and Peyton Lee each hit from distance in the period. A three-pointer from Lei Smith and another from Guerrero in the second kept Holbrook within two points at the half. Blue Ridge extended their lead to four points in the third despite four from Noheah Aberle and a three-point shot from Alayna Yazzie. In the final period, Holbrook struggled from the free throw line which proved costly in what ended up being a 50-45 loss. Holbrook missed six free throws in the fourth period. Aberle led the team in scoring with 11 points. Guerrero added 9; Nikol Gombos, Sara Billy and Alayna Yazzie each netted 5; Lei Smith had 3, as did Peyton Lee. Raelle Yazzie counted for 2 and Kim Billie scored one point. Playing in Show Low on Friday night both teams had a tough time finding points early on with the first period ending with Holbrook on top 6-4. In the second, the Cougars took a one-point lead. Alayna Yazzie’s deep three-point field goal just before the half kept it a one-point game. In the third, Guerrero nailed two treys and Raelle Yazzie hit one from distance, giving Holbrook a one-point lead heading into the final quarter. The Roadrunners had a three-point lead early in the fourth, but that lead vanished late. Holbrook trailed by just a point with 37 seconds left. A pair of free throws by Show Low gave them a three-point lead with 15 seconds left. Holbrook failed to execute a final three-point play, which may have tied the game and eventually the Cougars prevailed 32-27. Guerrero led the team in scoring with 9 points. Raelle Yazzie added 8; Alayna Yazzie, 5; Alexis Gene, 2, Billy, 2; and Gombos scored one. “Any time we can hold a team to just 32 points we should win the game period. We just can’t quite get over the top in the last two games. We are playing good defense for the most part but offensively we need to execute better and make our easy shots including our free throws. We have nine games left and realistically need to win at least three of them to make the state tournament. That will require better offensive play and a solid defensive effort the rest of the way,” stated Coach Greg Perkins. Holbrook entered Friday’s game ranked 21st. With the loss, they will most likely be lower when they face the Bulldogs in Winslow on Thursday in what will be their only game this week. Next Tuesday they welcome in Snowflake to Munoz Gym. Holbrook is 7-11 overall and just 2-7 in regular season contests.
