The Lady Roadrunners entered last week in need of wins as they wind down the regular season. They fell to Snowflake on Tuesday, but played better and picked up a pair of much-needed wins over Payson on Friday and Blue Ridge on Saturday. Tuesday’s home game with Snowflake saw the Lobos jump out to a 14-0 lead, which eventually led to a 39-17 advantage. Holbrook regrouped in the third, outscoring Snowflake by six, then again in the fourth but the deficit was too much to overcome with the Lobos eventually handing Holbrook a 58-51 loss. The Lady Roadrunners were led by Alayna Yazzie with 11 points. Nikol Gombos added 10; Deya Guerrero, 8; Peyton Lee, 8; Lei Smith, 5; Raelle Yazzie, 2; Kim Billie, 2; and Brooke Tsabetsaye finished with 2. Hosting Payson on Friday night Holbrook started well and led by three points after one quarter. Nohead Aberle returned to the lineup and joined Gombos, with both juniors netting four each in the first. Both teams played even in the second, leaving Holbrook with a 23-20 halftime lead. In the third, Holbrook opened up an eight-point lead behind 11 points from Raelle Yazzie. In the final frame, Sara Billy converted four of six free throws helping the team hold off Payson 53-46 to get the much-needed win. Raelle Yazzie led the way with 15 points; Sara Billy and Gombos each added 8; Aberle, 7; Alexis Gene, 5; Smith, 5; Peyton Lee, 2; Holly Casamero, 2; and Brooke Tsabetsaye helped with 1. Holbrook was in Blue Ridge on Saturday where they were able to pull out a three-point 58-55 win. Holbrook played well early with Aberle and Gombos both scoring in the paint. Raelle Yazzie scored seven in the frame. In the second they built a five-point lead behind four more from Aberle. The third period saw Blue Ridge trim Holbrook’s lead to just two points heading down the stretch. In the fourth, Holbrook got 12 points from Aberle including two clinching free throws with 15 seconds left to secure the win. Aberle led all scorers with 26 points. Raelle Yazzie added 12; Alayna Yazzie, 6; Casamero, 4; Gombos, 4; Tsabetsaye, 2; Smith, 2; and Billie added 1 in another critical win for Holbrook. “We really needed both wins. Beginning with the second half against Snowflake we started playing better. The Payson game was a physical battle and unfortunately, we suffered some injuries. We got more beat up on Saturday, but our bench role players have really come through in some tough moments. Noheah has missed three or four games, but is now back healthy and really carried us on Saturday. She was able to get a good matchup and took advantage. We had two more starters go down in that game, so it was an expensive win, but still a win we really needed. Hopefully, we can get somewhat healthy again and find one or two more wins in these final five games,” stated Coach Perkins. Holbrook is now 4-9 in regular season games and 9-13 overall. They have three home games on tap this week. Show Low comes in on Tuesday, followed by Winslow on Friday, and Monument Valley on Saturday. The Ladies were ranked 26th prior to the two weekend wins. Hopefully, they will be moved up a little heading into Tuesday’s game with Show Low.
