Raiders and Buckaroos battle in Montezuma Creek

The Whitehorse Raiders and Monticello Buckaroos battled in Montezuma Creek on Friday January 16.
In the early game the Whitehorse girls defeated Monticello 73-41.
The Raiders were led by Keiarra Martin who scored 21 points, while teammate Hannah Clark scored 18 and Lakyara Begay scored 12. Kaleigh Chee scored nine, while Keirra Chee and Kelaigha Nakai scored four points. Malia Sam and Gabrielle Whitehorse scored two and Laylah Benally had one point.
Martin and Begay each had six rebounds, while Clark recorded eight assists. Martin had five steals while Clark had four, and Kaleigh Chee had two blocks in the game.
Monticello was led by Peterson who scored 25 points in the game. Maron Freestone and Annaleigh Nebeker had four points, Nicole Francom scored three, Tessa Slade and Allie Carling had two and Shaydin Freestone scored one for Monticello.
Peterson also led the team with eight rebounds, while Francom had two assists. Francom, Nebeker and both Freestones all had two steals and Nebeker recorded one block.
Speaking after the game Keiarra Martin said it felt good for the team to be back on the court and keep their win streak going.
“I feel like personally I could have done a lot better with my three-pointers, but my mid range was hitting, my layups were hitting. So once I knew my threes were kind of off like during the second half, I just started driving. I just kept going to the hoop.”
Martin had praise for her teammates in a team win, with the whole team rallying behind Lakyara Begay
“Before the game, we're all hyping her up like, "You got this. You got this. Come on." And every shot she took, right when that first one fell, her confidence just went up from there. We kept shooting, kept driving, got rebounds.”
Martin said when she saw Clarks shots fall she was excited.
“That's when I knew like, okay, this game is going to be a good game. because everyone right when their first shot goes in is how I know the game's going to be all good from there.”
Martin leads the entire state of Utah averaging 27.6 points per game and is second in the state in three pointers made. Getting to that level has required a lot of work but Martin says she simply motivated by her love for the game of basketball.
“I love it. It doesn't really matter, I'll shoot if it's open, I'll drive if it's there, I'll pass it to the open teammate. I've seen the stats and I just don't really focus on that right now because I feel like once people get that fame like, oh yeah, I'm up. They don't really care to keep driving because there's always going to be someone out there that's better than you. So every day I just try to put in the work every single day. Even after the game, I'm probably just going to do my dribbling drills on the carpet. I normally do my workouts and go back to the gym tomorrow morning. Just start all over because this game is going to be in the past.”
For the team moving forward Martin says they’re working to get their chemistry down.
“Chemistry is everything with a team because everyone has that positive energy. If there's one negative energy, then the domino effect affects us all. The energy just comes down. So, I feel like one goal we have right now is just try to stay on top of our region.”
The lady Raiders are on top of the region standings and ranked #4 in the 1A MaxPrep seeding rankings.
In the boys game Monticello defeated Whitehorse 61-52. In the game Monticello was led by Cache Young who scored 25 points while Kord Young scored 14. Nielson and Felix each scored six, while Jackson Keyes and Mack each had five.
Kord Young led the team with eight rebounds while Mack had six. Nielson recorded five assists, Cache Young had four steals and Felix had one block in the game.
The Raiders were led by Adam Joe who had 22 points while Hyatt Thomas had 11 and Aiden Hamm scored 10. Tyrell Black scored three, while Elam Etsitty, Tristan Black, and Nateo Sam had two points.
Speaking after the game Kord Young said it was fun to play in a loud environment. Despite being just a sophomore Young says he's comfortable playing varsity minutes.
“Yeah, I kind of just go out there and play. Last year I played a little bit of varsity and that was really nerve-wracking, but this year it kind of faded away.”
After the win Young says they’re looking forward to improving as a team moving forward.
“Definitely lock down on defense and then just play as a team overall and just Just don't be selfish.”
Speaking after the game Coach Josh Keyes had praise for the two underclassman in Kord Young and Brandt Mack who played significant minutes in the win.
“If you come to practice with them, they don't know that they're freshman and a sophomore. They don't have any idea what that means. They just see red all the time and they go, go, go.”
Coach Keyes had praise for the team which has yet to lose after the holiday break.
‘I challenged them to work as hard in practice as they would in the game and you're starting to see that a little bit and we defended, we held a really high scoring Whitehorse team to 52. But defense is what wins it. And then Cache had a good offensive game, but he was also willing to share the ball.“
Coach Keyes added the win was another key step in the season's progress.
“We have picked up some big road wins. We got a big road win at Dolores. We got a big road win at Pinnacle. Come over here and get a big road win at Whitehorse. I just can't be more proud of these kids and how they've just handled adversity and we're going to celebrate the whole way home.”
The Monticello basketball teams played Dove Creek on January 20 after the press deadline and are on the road in Green River on Saturday January 24.
The Raiders played San Juan on January 20 after the press deadline. They’ve got a road trip to Green River and Price January 22 and 23.