Fans in Arizona’s Native American communities are passionate about their basketball.

The most recent evidence came for a Class 3A first-round boys game on Saturday night (Feb. 19), when the gym at Florence High seemed to have more rooters from Kayenta Monument Valley than the home team. And it was about a five- or six-hour trip each way.

Similar support was expected for the girls quarterfinals on Monday (Feb. 21) at Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley and for the boys quarterfinals on Tuesday (Feb. 22) at TTC.

And the cheering won’t stop there. The semifinals are on Friday at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale and the championship games are Saturday at Jobing.com. Those games are reserved for prime time (6 and 8 p.m.) by the Arizona Interscholastic Association because the arena is nearly filled.

Rez Ball is a wonderful brand of basketball. The wide-open offenses, full of fast breaks and very accurate outside shooting. The sleight-of-hand defenses – if you’re not careful, the ball could be going the other way in a hurry.

And there are the fans themselves. At the Florence game, one female fan from Monument Valley took a seat cushion stamped with the school’s logo on it, began waving it in the air and proceeded to run all the way around the edge of the court. The noise was deafening.

If you have not experienced this phenomenon, come on out.

Here are the girls quarterfinals on Monday at Tim’s Toyota Center . . .

Noon – No. 10 seed Chinle vs. No. 2 Tuba City.

2 p.m. – No. 11 Kayenta Monument Valley vs. No. 11 Holbrook.

5 p.m. – No. 5 Safford vs. No. 4 Goodyear Estrella Foothills.

7 p.m. – No. 8 Snowflake vs. No. 1 Fort Defiance Window Rock.

Here are the boys quarterfinals on Tuesday at Tim’s Toyota Center . . .

Noon – No. 7 Round Valley vs. No. 2 Fountain Hills.

2 p.m. – No. 11 Monument Valley vs. No. 3 Window Rock.

5 p.m. – No. 5 Lakeside Blue Ridge vs. No. 4 Winslow.

7 p.m. – No. 8 Snowflake vs. No. 16 Sedona Red Rock or No. 1 Holbrook. The Red Rock-Holbrook game was due to be played on Monday at 5 p.m. due to a weather delay over the weekend.