Monument Valley girls basketball team opens season with a couple of wins at 1A Preview

by David Boyle
News Director
The Monument Valley High School girls basketball team picked up where they left off last season, opening the 2023-24 season with two wins at the 1A Preview in Richfield.
Dating back to last year’s state tournament, the Lady Cougars are 5-1 at the Sevier Valley Center. Their only loss, to the 2022 state champion Wayne Badgers, was filled with controversial calls.
On November 18, Monument Valley downed Piute 48-39 in the first game of the season. The game opened slowly as the Lady Cougars held a 2-0 lead after five minutes, but closed the first quarter with a scoring flurry to build a 9-4 lead.
They exploded in the second quarter to outscore the Lady Thunderbirds 19-5 and extend the lead to 28-9.
Monument Valley continued to roll, leading 39-22 after three and 49-38 at the buzzer.
Senior Precious Bedonie led the Lady Cougar offense, registering a double-double with 13 points and ten rebounds. Sophomore Shikeeya Hudson had 11 and four rebounds.
Senior sister Shim-equa Hudson scored seven to go with nine steals and six boards.
Neveah Wilson had six points for Monument Valley along with 11 rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Finishing with four points each are Ayainna Cly and Mariah Begaye. Malayah Blackmountain and Kaylise Tome scored two apiece.
The Lady Cougars attempted one three-pointer, shot 38 percent from the floor and went 9-for-9 at the free throw line.
Monument Valley closed the Preview on November 19 with a similar victory over Milford. Again the game started a bit slow and was tied five-all after the first five minutes.
But once again the Lady Cougars pulled away to build a 23-15 lead at halftime.
Monument Valley led by ten midway through the third quarter but Milford rallied to cut the deficit to 32-29 in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Tigers scored the first basket of the quarter to pull to within one, but the Lady Cougars responded strongly on the next play when Shimequa Hudson found Wilson cutting to the basket.
Wilson drew a defender and dropped the ball to Bedonie, who scored at the basket and hit her free throw to complete a three-point play.
After a quick stop, the Cougars scored again with Blackmountain and Bedonie working a nice give-and-go. Blackmountain scored the bucket through contact to give the Lady Cougars a momentum-killing six-point lead.
They continued to hold Milford off, closing out a solid 48-39 win. Shimequa Hudson led the Cougars in game two with 14 points.
Fellow senior Bedonie scored ten and four Cougars finished with six each, including Shikeeya Hudson, Wilson, Begaye, and Blackmountain.
Monument Valley will play at a tournament in Shiprock, NM Nov. 30 thru Dec. 2, opening against Montezuma-Cortez.