Lady T-birds continue to struggle in disappointing season
Veronica Sanchez
he losses have been piling up all season and tonight would be no different as the Lady T-birds fell to a strong Yavapai team 61-52.
Right before Saturday’s loss, the Lady T birds had only won three out of their last eleven games. Unfortunately, the T-birds match up against Yavapai ended in another dreadful loss. But this time, the T-birds kept the score close with a lead after the first half as both teams came out playing with a lot of energy.
The 28-22 score at halftime had the lady T-birds smiling as they saw victory in their sights.
However, that lead would quickly evaporate in the second half as the Yavapai pulled away with a win in the last minutes of the game.
After the game, Yavapai head coach Brad Clifford said, “It was a great game, both sides played pretty well and we are fortunate to come out with the win here.”
“We had a couple of people that played well. I thought Kellie Snyder played pretty well.she rebounded very good. Paris Dunford played really well offensively and Tehani Goldsmith who was our leading score, also played well,” stated Clifford.
Dunford ended the game with fourteen points and Goldsmith with seventeen points.
For the Lady T-birds, Natasha Begay was the lone star as she scored eighteen points on nine out of fourteen shot attempts.
Yavapai was aware they were playing against a tough match up.
“We knew we would have our hands full with Mesa. They are good team. Coach Stephenson does a great job and like I said, we are very fortunate to come out with the win here”, said Clifford.
After the game, coach Kori Stephenson concluded that the reason they lost the game was because lack of energy.
“It was an ok game tonight we just didn’t come out with a lot of energy, which was obvious” said Kori Stephenson.
Mesa, now 8-16, looks to finish the season on a high note.
The team has four remaining games as they try and salvage a season many would say was a disappointment.
Mesa will travel to Phoenix College, Arizona Western, and Cochise College, before they return home to play South Mountain in the team season finale. The game will be on Feb. 29, at 5:30 p.m.
