Nathan Brown

azcentral sports

Kristen Quigley had a shot at being part of history in the Native American Basketball Invitational, but instead of playing for a chance for a third straight girls gold championship with the Lady Magic, Quigley will be teaming up with her mom on the sidelines for a team less than two months in the making.

The Quigleys, along with a lineup of other high school girls from Navajo Nation, will compete as the Lady G-Girlz in Pool M of NABI, which kicks off Wednesday in local gyms around Phoenix as 128 indigenous teams from around the world compete in the 12th annual tournament.

This summer's tournament will be Kristen's fourth at NABI, but after moving across the Navajo Reservation from Monument Valley High to Gallup High in New Mexico, Lisa, Kristen's mom, saw that her daughter was running with a different group of girls.

Because her daughter was separated from her old teammates, Lisa, who played basketball in high school and received offers to play in community college, decided to start Lady G-Girlz with Kristen and a few of her high school teammates.

"I just wanted to try something new and see what I could do with different girls and a different team," Kristen said. "With the last team, I hardly played, but with this team, I could do more. We all have different games."

Since forming the team in late May, the Lady G-Girlz have only had a chance to play in a few tournaments — some without their entire lineup that will be playing in Phoenix this week. Coming into NABI, though, Kristen said she thinks they've got some great potential and great team chemistry, especially with such a new squad.

"We moved without the ball, we knew where we were at, we talked on offense and defense, and I think we're a really good all-around team," she said.

"I don't want to get my hopes too high. I'm really confident, but I don't want to go off being cocky. We're just there to have fun and play."

The Lady G-Girlz have some concrete reasons to be excited, though.

Earlier this summer in a tournament in Window Rock, Ariz. hosted by the Lady Magic, the Lady G-Girlz faced Kristen's old team twice. The Lady G-Girlz fell in the first meeting but worked their way back into the finals of the double-elimination tournament and beat the hosts.

Two weeks ago in a tournament in Gallup, N.M., Quigley's team took home another title, giving them great momentum coming into NABI.

"I think we're going to go far," Lisa said. "I expect a lot from these girls. They listen very well. They're very coachable."

The Lady G-Girlz' main threat is Ni'Asia MacIntosh, the team's tallest player at 6-feet 1-inch, with Kristen playing as either a point guard or small forward.

Briana Clah, one of the few Lady Magic players who have been on the squad to see each of their back-to-back NABI titles, said she was impressed by the Lady G-Girlz in their earlier meetings this summer, but she still would give the two-time defending champs the edge if the two were to meet again this week.

"I think we have more players that work together, and we already know how to win," Clah said. "Only four of us came back, but our coach got some new girls, and we worked with them, and I think once we really get going, we're actually a good threat."