Piedra Vista-Farmington Girls Extra

The Lady Panthers got back at Farmington on Thursday for their Feb. 16 win at Jerry A. Conner Fieldhouse.

I asked PV coach Mike Christie if that gave his team any motivation.

"I think we play too much into that. I think on the boys' side there's a lot more of that in there. I don't think girls really see things that way," Christie said. "I think girls, 'It's time to play. Coach said be here at this time. Let's go.' I don't think there's a whole lot of personal involved. I don't think there's a whole lot of hatred between us. The rivalry's there. We sure don't want to lose to them and they don't want to lose to us. I think there's more played into that then there's actually there."

The Panthers will play Shiprock in the District 1-4A semifinals 7 p.m. Friday.

The Lady Chieftains beat 58-45 on Feb. 4 and 45-41 on Feb. 20. FHS coach Ben Tensay had a few thoughts no their matchup.

"Shiprock is more of a run-and-gun team. PV's got good guards. They rely heavily on their guards. They're gonna be solid. They have good posts but I think the guards are gonna be a little bit more effective," Tensay said. "It's gonna be a battle between those two teams. Shiprock's probably gonna want to do a little press. I think it's gonna come down to guard play. They're gonna be at the foul line or somebody's gonna beat them off the dribble."

Farmington returns four starters from this year's team. The lone graduate, Patience Benally, finished her high school career with 22 points, two rebounds and two assists.

Benally shot 7-of-13.

Tensay said he hopes the senior gets a chance to play college ball. He said a couple schools had looked at her.

He'll continue to work with her on footwork and ballhandling drills until she graduates.

*****

Here are the team stats. Farmington is listed on the left.

Turnovers: FHS -- 17, PV -- 14
2-point FG: 12-36, 13-33
3-point FG: 5-14, 7-15
R: 29, 33
FT: 13-21, 10-20
A: 9, 13
F: 21, 17

Stay true and keep pounding,
Christopher