CHINLE, Ariz. — In the Girls Championship game of 3A North Regional Tournament at the Wildcat Den, the No. 1 seed Ganado Lady Hornets meet up with No. 3 Page Lady Sand Devils, won by Page, 47 — 38.

During the regular season of the 3A North Region, Ganado Lady Hornets and Page Lady Sand Devils met twice with Ganado winning both contests by a single digit.

The Lady Hornets advanced to the Championship game, with a 48 to 35 win over No. 4 Chinle Lady Wildcats, in the semi-finals game of the 3A North Regional Tournament, in the Wildcat Den.

The Lady Sand Devils beat the No. 6 Monument Valley Lady Mustangs by a score of 47 to 20, in the opening round. In the semi-finals game Page up handed the No. 2 seed Window Rock Lady Scouts, 65 — 27.

Page’s Myka Taliman scored on two straight driving buckets, to give the visitors an early, four to one lead. The Lady Sand Devils took the home-like crowd out of the game, with an eight to six run and led 13 to 7.

Not to be outdone early, the Lady Hornets, who were ranked number one in the 3A state ranking all year long, answered with two quick scores to trail at the end of the first quarter, 10 to 13.

Mikala Benally scored early with seconds gone, for the Lady Sand Devils, and took the lead to 15 — 10. Ganado then went on a seven to two run, to tie the game at 17 all, with 1:44 left in the half. Lady Sand Devils’ LeLisa Watson hit trey with a minute and 26 seconds left in half, to give the lead to the visitors, for good. The Lady Sand Devils took a 24 — 20 halftime advantage and never look back.

Page continued to build on lead in the third quarter, stretching the seven point lead, to double digits, as the quarter closed, with Page leading, 37 — 24, over the No. 1 seed Ganado Lady Hornets.

The Lady Hornets out pointed the Lady Sand Devils, 14 to 10, but it was not enough, to overtake the 15 point lead, built by Page. Page coasted to a nine point win, 47 — 38.

“We praise ourselves on playing defense and the girls really executed that tonight,” said Ryan Whitehorse, head coach for the Sand Devils.



Benally led the Lady Sand Devils with a game high 15 points, Myka Taliman and LeLisa Watson, contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively.

“They came out hard and outplayed us, we played a better team tonight, they wanted it a little more than we did tonight,” said Mike Bitsuie of the Ganado Hornets. “We got the state tournament coming up, we got to work on fundamentals and play hard, we will be fine.”

In the second round of 2018 Arizona AIA 3A Girls State Basketball Championship, the No. 1 seed Lady Hornets will be playing the winner of the No. 12 Florence and No. 16 Payson match up, Feb. 16 at the Ganado Pavilion.

The Lady Sand Devils, hosted the No. 14 Winslow Lady Bulldogs and No. 19 North West Christian winner taking Feb. 13.