Lady Raiders 2nd at Chinle Tournament

The Whitehorse lady Raiders went 3-1 to close out the 2024 year and appear at the #5 rank in the Utah 1A RPI ranks.
Whitehorse opened the week with a region win over Monticello on December 17.
Whitehorse built a 13-7 lead after one quarter and extended the lead 32-9 at halftime. Whitehorse pushed the lead to 55-25 after three quarters with the final score favoring Whitehorse 73-38.
The lady Raiders were led by Heidi Clark and Keiarra Martin who each finished with 18 points. Hannah Clark finished with 14 points while Lamyia Benally had 11 points and Alyssa Eltsosie scored eight. Kaleigh Chee scored two while Malia Sam and Lakyara Begay each had one point.
Monticello was led by Maron Freestone who finished with 15 points while Braylee Freestone scored 11 and Makenna Peterson scored 10 and Sam McDonald added two.
Speaking after the game Heidi Clark shared praise for her younger sister Hannah Clark and teammate Keiarra Martin but ultimately shared the region victory was a team effort.
“I think my starting five did good. We grew up together, we worked together and now all this hard work is paying off and I think everyone else deserves a shout-out.“
Martin echoed that sentiment speaking postgame
“We all pitched in as a team. This is a team sport, there’s no indidviudal that outworked anyone. We all work and are at the same level. We all did pretty good tonight.”
Over the weekend the lady Raiders played impressively at the Southwest Foodservice Excellence Classic finishing as runners up at the Chinle tournament.
At the event Keiarra Martin was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament while teammate Lamyia Benally was named to the all tournament team.
The lady Raiders opened play beating Many Farms 39-37 on December 19. Whitehorse built a 14-10 lead after one quarter but fell behind 19-16 at half time. Whitehorse found themselves trailing 28-25 after three quarters but were able to complete the comeback in the fourth to earn the 39-37 win.
Whitehorse followed the game up with a 44-32 win over Pinon on December 20. Whitehorse built a 10-7 lead after one quarter extending the lead 22-17 at halftime. The Raiders pulled away in the third quarter leading 36-24 after three, and maintaining the lead for a 44-32 victory.
In the championship game Whitehorse fell to tournament hosts Chinle by a final score of 71-43.
In a social media statement coach Joni Dickson shared her thanks to the fans who came out to support all week long, and her congratulations to Martin and Benally for their recognition
“We are going to walk away knowing we fought until the very end as returning CHAMPIONS.
We may be a team full of guards, but we played with a lot of heart. We are not mad at that.”
The lady Raiders are off for the holiday break, their next game will be on January 8 when they host Monument Valley for the battle of the drum.