Valley Christian is the No. 1 seed in the Division III state girls tournament. 

That’s the good news for the Chandler program. Valley Christian is well-versed on the bad when it receives a high seed in recent years. 

Around this time is when the program hits a wall in the playoffs against lower seeds. Will Valley Christian overcome its final postseason stretch struggles? 

If it does, it’ll come at the expense of some talented teams still remaining in the tournament.  

 

All games at Gila River Arena Feb. 25.

No. 4 Chinle (20-5) vs. No. 5 Safford (28-2), 10:30 a.m.: Chinle’s leaders are seniors Kali Hunter, Nikesha Eagleman, Shanie Yazzie and junior Nahatabaa Nacona. Hunter is the team’s leading rebounder, third leading scorer and brings a “fierce” competitive attitude. Eagleman defends the opponent’s top scorer, runs the break well and can shoot. “Boy, can she shoot,” Chinle coach Peterson Butler said. Nacona is the team’s floor leader. “She has a very good attitude and best of all she is very coachable,” Butler said. Yazzie is the team’s quiet leader and also a “deadly” shooter. Yazzie also brings a tough defensive presence. Most of Chinle’s girls have been in coach Butler’s system since they were freshmen. “One of their goals was to be competitive with the elite teams in our section and to be a force,” Butler said. “They accomplished these goals and were able to compete in the section championship for the first time ever. It took a while for the community to realize that we had a good team. The support from the community has been huge as of late.” Safford’s leaders are senior Domareece Camarena and juniors Cryatal Haase (18.6 ppg) and Jaylynn Scrivner. “The chemistry is second to none,” coach Robert Abalos said. Safford lost only one senior off of last year’s state semifinal team and added a very talented freshman in Deion Abalos. “We have worked really hard to make this year’s bench better,” Abalos said. “We have some solid girls coming off the bench who make us better.” 

No. 6 Pueblo Magnet (25-4) vs. No. 3 South Mountain (22-8), 1:30 p.m.: Sophomores Ilyssa Galindo, a point guard, shooting guard Alicia Reyes (16 ppg) and junior shooting forward Araceli Loya are Pueblo’s floor leaders. The general is Galindo, a versatile player with “great handles,” shooting ability and defensive smarts. Loya is an aggressive shooter who set a new state record with 17 threes in a game this season. She’s also a quick defender and attacks the basket “with no hesitation.” Loya’s versatility allows her to play out of position since Galindo and Reyes handle the 1 and 2 guard positions. Pueblo’s talented trio have played with or against each other since their elementary and middle school days. “I don’t have one selfish player on my team,” Pueblo coach Ismael Galindo said. “They truly play for each other. They’re best friends off the court. They work extremely hard on the fundamentals every day in practice and all of off season. They play the game for fun. My team is always smiling.” South Mountain is led by Gatorade Player of the Year candidate Najiyyah Pack and another senior with playoff experience, Ozahria Fisher. Pack is a very athletic scorer (26 ppg, 2nd in state) and can attack off the dribble or shoot from the outside. She also can defend and is tied for 1st in D-III with six steals per game. Pack also is hauling in nine boards per game. “She has a do-it-all mentality,” coach Kisha Gwyn said. “She’s a great leader and aspires to be a leader in the classroom and on the court.” Fisher is also very athletic and an “unselfish” point guard. She’s one of the state’s leaders in assists (6 per game). Her no-look passes surprise defenders and South Mountain’s own player on many occasions, Gwyn added. “Our seniors want to go out with a bang,” Gwyn said. “This is their last chance.”

 

No. 7 Window Rock (22-10) vs. No. 2 Page (29-4), 4:30 p.m.: Page only plays one senior and lost its second leading scorer during the season, but the defending state champ continues to battle under 7-year coach Justin Smith. The captains for Page are senior Ashley Dempsey (team-high 13.1 ppg), junior Ariel Austin and sophomore LeLisa Watson. “The team really feeds off of (Dempsey) on the offensive end of the floor,” Smith said. Austin is the defensive leader and is second on the team with 47 steals. Freshman Myka Taliman is the steals leader (58) for Page. “She (Austin) doesn’t really get much recognition, because she is our defensive specialist, but she is very key to our success,” Smith said. Watson was a clutch player during some big games this year. Taliman is playing the point and continues to grow every game. “Our team’s success this year and every year has been based on our defense,” Smith said. “If we play good defense, good things happen for us. We pride ourselves on playing good defense and playing for our teammates. We put the team above ourselves.” Window Rock lost 66-33 to Page this season, but that’s when Page was at full strength. Domonique Chee only averages 11.7 points per game as the Window Rock’s high scorer, but three other players are averaging 8.6 points or more per game. Alicia Hale is averaging almost seven rebounds a game for Window Rock.       

 

No. 9 seed Winslow (17-16) vs. No. 1 Valley Christian (28-2), 7:30 p.m.: Record wise, this is the worst season the Winslow Lady Bulldogs have experienced in more than a decade. But because of its rich basketball tradition, opponents aren’t feeling sorry for Winslow this year. Not when Winslow is in the midst of another strong playoff run. The Lady Bulldogs, which carry just one senior, captain Adrianna Singer, and four freshmen, were 9-15 after a 51-50 loss to Holbrook, which finished 14-16 this season. During that tough opening stretch of the season, Winslow also was handed a 62-33 drubbing by Valley Christian. Four players scored in double figures for Valley Christian in that game, including sophomore Anna Gorman (21 points). But since that loss to Holbrook, Winslow has won eight of its last nine games. Junior Megan Timmer was shooting 56 percent after 29 games while averaging a team-high 17.1 points per game for Valley Christian. After winning back-to-back state championships, the playoffs haven’t been kind to Valley Christian in the past four seasons, when the program was upset by a lower seed in each tournament.