Kayenta Monument Valley Lady Mustangs and Ganado Lady Hornets held off their respective opponents en route to earning a freedom game victory in girl's basketball action.

Monument Valley Lady Mustangs 52, Hopi Lady Bruins 39

The Monument Valley Lady Mustangs utilized a strong defense in its victory, 52-39.

Monument Valley head coach Jason Franklin said the Lady Mustangs played well in spurts.

"It was clear that not being able to practice over the Thanksgiving break played a role in both our conditioning and offensive execution," Franklin said. "All gym floors were being refurbished. So no practice space."

Franklin said the Lady Mustangs could not buy a basket.

"We were able to get open shots, but we had a difficult time knocking thos shots down," Franklin stated. "We shot lower than 50 per cent from both the field and free throw line."

The Lady Mustangs made some defensive adjustments to contain Hopi's guards speed and quickness.

"The difference in the game was definitely defense intensity," Franklin explained. "Hopi has some extremely quick guards. It took our team some time to figure out our rotations against that quickness. Once we were able to work those things out and raise our effort on defense, we were able to make a couple of short runs to give ourselves a lead. Overall, any win is a good win. Playing Hopi was good preparation, as we move forward to the Lake Powell Holiday Classic in Page, Arizona, beginning today (Thursday)."

Hopi led at the end of the first quarter, 9-7. The Lady Mustangs took the lead at the end of the firsr half, 26-15, after outscoring the Lady Bruins, 19-6.

Hopi battled back, outscoring the Lady Mustangs, 11-9, in the third quarter. The Lady Mustangs held a 35-26 advantage at the end of the third period. Both teams stepped up a notch offensively in the fourth quarter. The Lady Mustangs netted 17 points to the Lady Bruins' 13 markers.

Senior Tayla Nez led the Lady Mustangs offensively, canning 16 points, followed by sophomore Adriana Sheppard with 12 points and sophomore Erynne Sells tallied nine points.

Topping Hopi was Kalen Joseph with 11 points. Jaeda Honanie and Onaiwa Begay both poured in 10 points apiece for the Lady Bruins.

Kayenta Monument Valley faces the Tohatchi (New Mexico) Lady Cougars today (Thursday) at 3:30 p.m. in the first round of the 2018 Girls Lake Powell Holiday Classic in Page, Arizona.

Ganado 38, Snowflake 32

Playing solid defense was the key for Ganado, as the Lady Hornets outlasted the Snowflake Lady Lobos, 38-32, in a freedom game played in the Hornet Pavilion at Burnside Junction.

"It was a good effort by our team on both sides of the ball (defense and offense)," said Ganado head coach Mike Bitsuie. "We caused a lot of turnovers on defense. We have to do a better job capitalizing. We missed too many lay ups that we should have converted. Our defense did enough to hold on for the victory."

Ganado was paced offensively by Abigail Benally with 10 points, four assists and seven steals.

Jayla McIntosh added nine points and Deana Curley netted eight points and seven steals for the Lady Hornets. Ganado's Michelene Coleman pulled down 11 rebounds for Ganado.