After struggling through the early portion of the season, the Lady Roadrunners were hoping to show improvement at the 80-team Chandler Prep Tournament held over the weekend. “We really hadn’t played up to the level we need to but at this tournament I saw some progress in that area. The girls played hard and we saw results because of it,” stated Coach Greg Perkins. Holbrook went 3-1 at the tournament, eventually losing to Gonzaga Prep of Washington, in the championship game of the top level diamond bracket on Saturday evening. Holbrook opened the tournament on Thursday afternoon with a 48-40 win over Florence. Returning to action for the first time in three weeks, Matehya Aberle played well, netting 19 points in the win. Madison Chappell added 12, and Abigayle Nez hit for five. Early Friday morning Holbrook met up with Sunrise Mountain, who at the time had the best record in the 5A. The Mustangs came in with just two losses but Holbrook played well and handed them their third season setback. The Lady Birds won the game, 51-44 behind 23 points from Aberle and 16 from Chappell. Playing in the semi-final round on Friday afternoon Holbrook had to face American Leadership Academy–Gilbert on their home floor as they were one of the tournament hosts. The Lady Birds played well defensively and really pushed the tempo on both ends of the floor eventually tiring out the host team, which resulted in a 60-44 Holbrook win. Aberle had 19; Chappell, 15; and Desirae Bain, who is also coming back from an early season injury, found the range netting 12 points. That win put Holbrook onto the championship game of the tournament, where they met up with a powerhouse private school from Washington. Gonzaga Prep had beaten Winslow earlier in the tournament by 25 and is apparently one of the best schools at their level in the state of Washington. “We knew we were going up against a very good team. They were tall, athletic, shot well and very well coached,” said Perkins. Playing in front of a large Holbrook fan base, the Roadrunners played well early holding a four-point lead at the end of the first. That lead grew to eight early in the second period, before the Bullpups made a run to lead at the half by five. Holbrook hit three treys in the third to help them trim all but two points off the lead with one quarter to play. In the fourth, Gonzaga was able to open up a six-point lead late, forcing Holbrook to put them on the line where they were solid, eventually winning the game 51-41. Bain led Holbrook in the title game with 14 points. Aberle added 10 and Madison Chappell had 6. “Overall I thought we played well against them. They are the type of team that makes you pay for mistakes, and we had a few too many of those and missed some shots by the basket throughout the game, which would have helped our chances. It was great to see Desirae’s shooting touch return as well. I was proud of our girls for their effort. Now we need to keep building over the next two months as we focus on the state tournament.” Chappell and Aberle were both named to the Diamond Bracket all-tournament team. Holbrook is now 11-5 overall and remains 2-4 in regular season games. With the power points being released this week, the team will find out how much work they have to do to climb in the rankings. Holbrook will host Blue Ridge today (Wednesday) and welcome in Payson on Friday. Next Tuesday the team will travel to Payson.