A Special Year
T-Mobile Tournament and experience could mean memorable year for Lady Bengals in 2007-08

Gallup Bengals Erica Sowers and Telisha Joe run a dribbling routine during practice on Friday. The Bengals will compete in the upcoming T-Mobile tournament in Albuquerque. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Alan Arthur
Sports Editor

GALLUP — A lot of factors could lead to this being a memorable season for the Gallup Lady Bengals basketball team.

First, there’s the experience. The Lady Bengals will have 10 returning letterpeople on their roster when they take the court on Tuesday night against the Valley Vikings in their season opener in Albuquerque.

“We’re way ahead of where we were last year,” Gallup head coach John Lomasney said, who has 474 career victories as he begins his 27th year at the helm of the Lady Bengals. “We’re basically a senior team. We have a lot of ballplayers. Things really look good for this year. My expectations are very high for this team.”

And then there’s the national exposure that will be coming the Lady Bengals’ way. The Lady Bengals will be taking part in the T-Mobile Tournament in Albuquerque on Dec. 28-29. The tournament will pit the Lady Bengals against some of the best competition in the nation. Because of that, USA Today will also be in town to do a feature on the Lady Bengals.

“They’re going to follow us around school, they’re going to make a tape on us and be at the (Gallup Invitational) game on Thursday night,” Lomasney said.

Lomasney calls the T-Mobile tournament a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us. We’re really looking forward to that.”

He added, “This is a special year for us.”

With the experience that is returning, Lomasney says he has the enviable task of having six players that could be starting. That also gives him an added asset in a strong sixth man.

“In good years, I always seem to have that one good one that comes off the bench,” he said. “But all of them have starting experience.”

Of course, leading that group is 5-foot-6 guard Telisha Joe, a first-team all-stater in Class 5A last year. Joe’s all-around talent will be a big key to the Lady Bengals’ success this season.

Complementing Joe are fellow seniors Janelle Largo (5-foot-5 guard-forward), Erica Sowers (5-5 guard), Courtney Cowboy (5-5 forward) and Stevie Hudson (5-5 forward-guard). Sage Natonabah (5-10 forward-center) is a junior and is among the top six on the Bengals’ roster.

“All of them are capable of starting and all of them are capable of coming off the bench,” Lomasney said. “That’s a good feeling.”

Lomasney is quick to note that he has other capable players on the bench after the six he mentioned. That includes 5-8 senior forward-center Shani Francis, 5-8 senior forward-center Ryequel Denny, 5-0 senior guard Alexia DeLora, 5-4 sophomore guard Paulette Coffey, 5-9 senior forward-center Tanya Wilson, 5-10 sophomore forward-center transfer Nicole Tsosie, 5-8 junior forward-center Anika Martin and 5-4 sophomore guard Jeryn Wilson.

“We have a lot of hard workers. We’re not very tall but we’ve been there before. We’re actually shooting the ball better,” Lomasney said.

Lomasney said last summer’s trip to the Lobo Camp was a big plus for the Bengals.

“We made the finals in the varsity division and our JV made the finals in the small school division,” he said.

The Lady Bengals again have a tough schedule, beginning with their own Gallup Invitational which will be played Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at Gallup High School. Teams at the invite will include Kirtland-Central, Window Rock, Hobbs, Winslow, Los Lunas, La Cueva and Sandia.

“You know what kind of powerhouses they are,” Lomasney said. “It’s going to be a tough tournament.”

And looking forward to the District 1-5A season, Lomasney is already looking at a tough battle to get back to the state tournament and better on their state tournament appearance of a year ago when the Lady Bengals finished just two points away from making the state championship game.

“Cibola is going to be there. Rio Rancho will still be there, they’ve graduated very few. West Mesa has about everybody back,” Lomasney said. “It looks like a tough district for us. There’s no place for us to get rest this year.”

The Lady Bengals would like to win those exciting one-point and two-point games this season.

“We lost a lot of close ballgames last year and we’re not used to that,” Lomasney said. “This year we’re going to be ready and go out there and hopefully make those six games that we lost by two points in the last few seconds and turn that around.”

He adds, “We’re going to have fun this year. I’m not going to do anything different. We’re going to get out there and do what we do best and that’s play basketball, play with our hearts. I want to be competitive and I want to be there at the end.”