The Lady Roadrunners saw their season come to a close in a loud gym in Payson in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Monday night. The 12th-seeded Lady Birds had advanced to that round with a well-played win over Window Rock in the state pool round on the previous Thursday night.
Payson, ranked fifth overall came out strong, getting ahead of Holbrook 10-1 early, but the Birds battled back to trail just 14-8 at the end of the quarter. Alayna Yazzie hit a 3 and Deya Guerrero added 3 in the period.
In the second, Holbrook played well defensively, holding the Longhorns to just 7 points. Guerrero added 8 points to her total in the second and Holbrook trailed 21-17 at the half.
The third saw Holbrook take the lead. They got 7 more from Guerrero, and a long-range shot from Holly Casamero along with 2 more from Yazzie, putting the Lady Birds on top 31-28 going into the fourth.
In the final frame, Holbrook went stone cold from the free throw line. They made just one of seven free throw attempts in the final minutes. That combined with two late-game turnovers brought Holbrook’s season to an end. Payson prevailed 42-38.
“The girls played hard all night. We just had a couple of late turnovers and missed way too many free throws. You simply can’t miss 10 free throws in a state tournament game and expect to advance at our level. I am proud of the girls for how they turned things around this season. Before Christmas, we were really struggling but the ladies got things figured out and we were a pretty good team in the second half of the season. Missing free throws is a tough way to go out but give credit to Payson,” stated Coach Greg Perkins.
Guerrero finished her final game with 19 points. Bailey Williams added 7; Yazzie, 5; Casamero, 5; and Channing Harrington finished with 2.
Holbrook has a solid core of younger players returning for next season. This year they went 14-15 overall.
