The Lady Braves of Santa Fe Indian School played as though they were behind in the fourth quarter of their girls basketball opener against the Lady Chieftains of Shiprock.

The Lady Braves weren't.

Well, not until getting outscored 23-12 over the final
8 minutes.

Shiprock 55, SFIS 50.

"We need to be more disciplined with our offense," said Cindy Roybal, Santa Fe Indian School head coach. "We were playing like we were behind. When you're ahead, you need to stay ahead."

The Lady Braves didn't.

Shiprock drained 11 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Chieftains were 19 of 25 from the line for the game. The Lady Braves finished 12 of 23.

That wasn't the lone statistic that glared.

"We had 14 turnovers, and most of them were in the fourth quarter," Roybal said.

There were few blemishes through three quarters. The Lady Braves led 12-4 after one quarter, 24-22 at halftime and 38-32 entering the fourth.

"The effort was there, but we can't be content with just playing hard," Roybal said. "We saw plenty of things to work on. I'm pleased with how well we played, considering the amount of practice time we had. But I'm disappointed in the loss."

Because of the success of the volleyball and cross country teams this fall, the Lady Braves had four days of practice with their entire team before Friday.

Jenine Coriz and Miranda Medina scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, for Santa Fe Indian School. Coriz also had seven assists and four steals, while Medina grabbed six rebounds.

Olivia Mermejo was another bright spot. Mermejo finished with seven steals, five rebounds and six points.

Kelia Keams scored 10 points for Shiprock.

East Mountain 26, McCurdy School 25

Novela Salazar's 10 points led the way for the Lady Bobcats, but foul trouble proved to be the downfall in their season-opener in Sandia Park.

"Our starting point guard Jacqueline Maestas played real well for us," said head coach Ray Roybal. "She handled the ball real well, but fouled out late and that really hurt us."

McCurdy falls to 0-1 while East Mountain improved to 1-1.

"We took a four-point lead in the third quarter," Romero said, "then our shots just stopped falling and the girls got a little impatient. You just can't do that."