Holbrook’s Lady Roadrunners have qualified for the State Tournament for the 16th consecutive season after earning a split in their final two regular-season games last week.
Holbrook will now host Window Rock in the inaugural 3A State Pool game on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Holbrook finished the season ranked 16th in the 3A power points and will host No. 19 Window Rock. The Scouts have lost 12 straight but they are certainly battle-tested. All 12 of those losses are to teams ranked inside the top 10 in the state, in other words, the 3A North. Window Rock is much better than their record shows.
Holbrook defeated Alchesay on Tuesday night. Playing in a quiet gym both teams were sluggish through the first half which ended deadlocked at 17-17. Deya Guerrero nailed two treys in the first period, and Channing Harrington had two layups in the second.
Harrington came to life in the third quarter. After the team went four minutes without scoring, she nailed three consecutive triples. Alayna Yazzie added one of her own and Holbrook scored 20 points in four minutes building a 12-point lead going into the final frame.
In the fourth, a final trey from Harrington and two from Guerrero was enough to hold off the Falcons for the 42-36 road win.
Harrington finished with a game-high 18 points. Guerrero added 11, Yazzie had 5; and Jordan Claw, Chelsey Begaye, Bailey Williams, and Holly Casamero each netted 2 in the win.
Wednesday night, Holbrook welcomed in Show Low for senior night. The Cougars were ranked fourth in the state coming in, but early on Holbrook built a 12-4 lead behind 7 points from Guerrero and 4 from Casamero. The second quarter belonged to the Cougars, leaving Holbrook trailing 25-17 at the half.
Yazzie netted 5 in the third and classmate Guerrero made five of six free throws, keeping Holbrook within 7 points with eight minutes left in the game. Holbrook cut the lead down to 4 points late in the game, when Shayla Attakai’s shot from distance found the mark, but in the end, the Cougars prevailed 49-41.
Guerrero led Holbrook in scoring with 19 points. Yazzie added 7; Williams, 6; Casamero, 4; Attakai, 3; and Harrington finished with 2.
“I am proud of these girls for how they played after the holiday break. They have put together a solid January and early February. Now we have to keep it going strong in the postseason. The game at Alchesay was unique for sure but we got the job done. Show Low is very good with one extremely good player and even with a lot of defensive energy towards her she still got 26 points.
“Window Rock is very good. Yes, they haven’t won in a while, but most teams outside of the 3A North would also struggle with that kind of schedule. They have played some of the top teams in the state to very close games and they will be a really tough opponent for us. Hopefully playing at home in front of our home crowd will help us out. Our girls are good as well, we just need to play consistently good for all four quarters,” stated Coach Greg Perkins.
With the split Holbrook finished the regular season with an overall record of 13-14. They were 5-5 in east region play finishing third in the region.
Holbrook will host Window Rock on Thursday night. The winner of this game will await results from the first two rounds of the new Copper Tournament to see who they will play on Monday night in the opening round of the 3A State bracket.
All tickets for Thursday’s game will be sold only on GOFAN. Season passes and employee passes will not be accepted due to this being an AIA post-season game. The doors will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. start time.
