The Lady Wildcats split their two regular season games played prior to competing in the Southwest Food Excellence Winter Classic hosted by Chinle High School last weekend, where they went 3-1 in four games played.
Tuesday last week, they hosted Hopi High School and came away with a surprisingly close win over the Lady Bruins. Maybe the Wildcats were a little fatigued coming off their Round Valley tournament win, but they struggled out of the gate offensively scoring just 10 first quarter points to hold a 10-8 lead. By the half the margin was just one at 17-16. The third quarter was the difference. Joseph City outscored Hopi 11-4, taking an 8-point lead into the final quarter. In the fourth the scoring was again close but the Wildcats eventually prevailed 35-28 in a low scoring affair.
Audrey Neill led the way in scoring with 15 points. McKenzie Jesmer added 8; Raylee Fish, 4; Tori Beatty, 4; Amber Neill, 2; and Kaci Palmer helped with 2. The Wildcats shot just 33% from the field and made only one of nine 3-point attempts.
Playing a better defensive team the following day, the Wildcats shooting woes continued in a low scoring home court loss to St. Johns by a final score of 33-31.
Joseph City played the better defense through the first eight minutes building a 10-5 cushion over the visiting Redskins. In the second, St. Johns flipped the tables taking a 16-14 lead into the locker room.
Joseph City tied the game by the end of the third at 22 apiece. In the final frame St. Johns was able to win the back-and-forth quarter 11-9 and the game 33-31, handing the Wildcats their first regular season loss of the campaign.
Amber Neill led the way in scoring with 9 points. Audrey Neill added 8, as did Jesmer. Fish finished with 2 and Palmer added a single point in the loss. The team went 5 for 6 at the charity line but was 0 for 8 from the 3-point line. They did improve their overall field goal percentage from the Hopi game and played better defense.
Joseph City defeated Agua Fria 35-28 in their first tournament game at Chinle. Their second game was a 43-15 win over Mountain View Marana.
The Cats took on the host team Chinle early Saturday morning and suffered a 56-35 loss to the 3A Wildcats. They bounced back later that afternoon with a 67-36 win over Hopi. The same team they struggled with to start the week.
The Wildcats will now have some time off to rest up for the second half of the season. They will enter January with an overall record of 14-2, and they are 5-1 in regular power point contests.
They open the new year with a home game vs Ash Fork on Jan. 2, backed up with a second home game on Jan. 5, vs Camp Verde. On Jan. 6, they travel to Sedona, followed the next day with a home court match up vs Sanders.
