In a game that was exciting and close from the tip-off to the final minute, the Lady Sand defeated their long-time rival the Monument Valley Mustangs in the 3A championship game to bring home their second championship in four years. They beat the Mustangs 41-34.

The Lady Sand Devils of January and February were a much different, much improved team compared to the Lady Sand Devils of November and December. The Sand Devils in the first half of the season were plagued by turnovers, sometimes racking up as many as 30 per game. They lacked confidence and a clear team leader.

They lost seven of the first 13 games, at their lowest point losing all three games during their visit to a tournament played over the Christmas break. They lost to Ganado 39-34 on January 2, and then they turned the corner and went on a seven-game win streak. Their turnovers went from 25 a game down to about twelve a game, and most importantly they found some on-court leaders in LeLisa Watson, Myka Taliman and Mikala Benally. She returned from the Christmas tournament with a black eye and a new-found, deep-set determination that served her team well for the duration of the season, which earned her the nickname “The X-Factor,” and her determination and skill sets played a major factor in Monday’s victory over the Mustangs. She was the game’s high scorer with 17 points. She scored six of her team’s first eight points, and she scored their last six points.

The Mustangs and the Sand Devils were well matched offensively and defensively. The game featured 12 lead changes or ties. The Mustangs’ Taylor Nez was the first player to score, but LeLisa Watson soon tied the game after hitting both of her free throws. Benally gave the Sand Devils their first lead when she hit her first three-pointer of the game.

Both teams committed a lot of turnovers in the first quarter, likely due to a case of the big-game jitters.

The Mustangs regained the lead six to five but Benally got it back when she dropped in her second three-pointer of the game toward the end of the first quarter. The Mustangs fought their way back to lead the game 11-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Watson committed her second foul of the game in the opening minutes of the second quarter and committed her third foul with 4:17 left in the quarter. Camryn Nockideneh came in for her and did a great job.

After trailing the first half of the second quarter Benally hit another jump shot giving the Sand Devils the lead for the first time in nearly eight minutes. But the Mustangs crept back and even regained the lead. The quarter ended with a brilliant pass from Ashlyn Adakai to a slashing Nockideneh whose basket tied the game at 18 as the half ended.

Watson returned to the court in the third quarter and added two free throws to give the Sand Devils a two-point lead.

Page continued using their man-to-man pressure, but they didn’t use the corner trap pressure they’ve employed with great success for the last half of the regular season. A Taliman free-throw improved Page’s lead to three, which quickly ended after the Mustangs hit a big one he third quarter was the most exciting, nail-biting of the game with both teams hitting their shots. The last half of the quarter saw five lead changes with Page holding a 31-10 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

Salabiye started off the fourth quarter hitting a shot from her post position and Taliman added two more on a jump shot on the following possession giving the Sand Devils a five point lead, the biggest lead they’d held the entire game with six minutes remaining.

The last half of the championship game belonged to Benally, the X-Factor who hit a jump shot and four free throws in the game’s final two minutes. Call it a Benally finale.

The game ended with Salabiye pulling in a defensive rebound and throwing it out to Taliman who ran out the game’s final seconds.

The final score read Page 41, Mustangs 34.

The Sand Devils lost their first game of the season to Monument Valley by seven points.

They finished the season defeating the Mustangs by seven points in the 3A state championship game.

That’s a pretty good turnaround.

Girls basketball head coach Ryan Whitehorse said the championship game was a mirror image of their season.

“Last night’s game looked like our season did,” he said. “Both had their ups and down, but in the game, like the season we brought it together in the end.”
Coach Whitehorse gives much of the credit to his team’s success to their defensive play.

“All year long our defense has delivered wins for us, and it did again last night,” he said.

In a typical game, Salabiye, Watson and Taliman are the Sand Devils leading scorers but they were all held to under ten points.

“But they still played their roles,” said Coach Whitehorse. “Salabiye gave us ten or eleven rebounds, Taliman still controlled the ball and the game’s tempo for us at point guard.

We got a really big lift from Benally, who, as usual, was fearless attacking the basket.”