Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Senior spirit line member Gianna Chavez leads a cheer for the home crowd. Morenci hosts Bisbee for the regular season home finale on Thursday, Feb. 2.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The Albert Ortega-coached Morenci Wildcats host the Bisbee Pumas on Thursday, Feb. 2. The 2A East Region contest has a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.
The No. 9 Pumas (15-6 overall) enter Wildcat Memorial Gymnasium with wins in three of their most recent four games while the No. 20 Wildcats (12-11) have lost three of their most recent four games. Bisbee averaged a 46-36 (180-145) score per game or a 10-point margin as Morenci averaged a 40-46 (160-183) score per game or a 6-point deficit in that span. A prior pairing resulted in a 24-point loss, 36-60 to the Pumas in Bisbee on Jan. 9.
Other region games this week are Santa Rita at Pima and Willcox at Benson on Feb. 2; and Santa Rita at Tombstone on Friday, Feb. 3.
Bisbee Pumas
The Pumas are averaging a 49-37 (1,024-770) score per game or a 12-point margin.
Bisbee has wins of 62-20 over San Manuel (Nov. 21), 50-18 over Duncan (Nov. 22), 47-23 over Sells Baboquivari (Nov. 23), 56-45 over Joseph City (Nov. 23), 72-36 over Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (Dec. 1), 53-23 over Tombstone (Dec. 8), 46-16 over Elfrida Valley Union (Dec. 14), 59-15 over Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic (Dec. 19), 56-37 over Willcox, Jan. 3, 60-36 over Morenci (Jan. 9), 56-11 over Tucson Santa Rita (Jan. 13), 43-29 over Tombstone (Jan. 17), 54-43 over Benson (Jan. 9), 56-46 over Willcox (Jan. 27), and 53-16 over Tucson Santa Rita (Jan. 30).
The losses are 45-56 to Joseph City (Nov. 21), 27-78 to San Carlos (Dec. 5), 29-42 to Benson (Dec. 13), 35-64 to Pima (Dec. 16), 37-60 to Saint David (Jan. 12), and 28-61 to Pima (Jan. 24).
Morenci Wildcats
The Wildcats are averaging a 40-45 (918-1,031) score per game or a 5-point deficit and shooting 53 percent (174-327) from the free throw line compared to 42 percent (130-307) for their combined opponents.
Senior Mia Ontiveros has contributed double-digit scoring 18 times with a high of 33 points, junior Elena Leonard 13 times with a high of 18, and senior Cambri McCauley five times with a high of 11. Ontiveros has averaged 14.5 (319) points per game, Leonard 9.3 (215), and McCauley 5.4 (124).
The free throw percentage is 80 (4-5) for freshman Rozlyn Funari, 62 (53-86) for Ontiveros, 57 (52-91) for Leonard, 50 (29-58) for senior Keirah Chee, 50 (1-2) for sophomore Tayah Wilkes, 47 (7-15) for sophomore Sway Cordova, 46 (10-24) for sophomore Jayden McCall, 43 (12-28) for McCauley, 40 (2-5) for junior Ciante Dosela, 38 (3-8) for freshman Jaliyah Hernandez, 25 (1-4) for senior Chastity Gardner, and freshman Adriana Carbajal is 0-2.
To date, Morenci has wins of 61-48 over Benson (Dec. 1), 53-40 over Elfrida Valley Union (Dec. 5), 55-13 over Tucson Santa Rita (Dec. 13), 49-30 over Duncan (Dec. 21), 30-26 over Tucson Desert Christian (Dec. 28), 31-20 over Phoenix Goldwater (Dec. 28), 31-30 over Apache Junction (Dec. 28), 43-37 over Phoenix Veritas Prep (Dec. 29), 50-29 over Tombstone (Jan. 6), 50-46 over Willcox (Jan. 17), 59-343 over Tucson Santa Rita (Jan. 20), and 57-11 over Gilbert San Tan Charter (Jan. 26).
The losses are 38-82 to San Carlos (Nov. 21), 28-65 to Saint David (Nov. 28), 51-52 to Willcox (Dec. 8), 25-71 to Thatcher (Dec. 19), 43-67 to Fort Thomas (Dec. 20), 4-50 to Sahuarita (Dec. 29), 36-60 to Bisbee (Jan. Jan. 9), 31-72 to Pima (Jan. 12), 37-63 to Benson (Jan. 24), 26-58 to Round Valley (Jan. 25), and 43-51 to Tombstone (Jan. 30).
Morenci has one region game left, at Pima on Feb. 7.
2A East Region Standings
Region standings as of Feb. 1 were Pima (24-2 overall, 14-1 seeding, 10-0 region), Bisbee (15-6, 11-5, 8-3), Morenci (12-11, 7-8, 5-5), Benson (16-9, 9-6, 4-5), Willcox (14-13, 8-7, 4-6), Tombstone (10-13, 8-9, 3-7), and Tucson Santa Rita (1-12, 1-12, 0-8).
Remaining games for region members after this week include Santa Rita at Benson on Monday, Feb. 6; Morenci at Pima, Tombstone at Benson, and Willcox at Santa Rita on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
Non-region pairings include Lakeside Blue Ridge at Pima and Willcox at Tucson Empire on Feb. 6.
Results of region pairings to date are Pima (10-0) with wins of 75-5 over Tombstone (Dec. 13), 64-35 over Bisbee (Dec. 13), 53-28 over Benson (Jan. 4), 79-15 over Willcox (Jan. 6), 85-9 over Tucson Santa Rita (Jan. 12), 72-31 over Morenci (Jan. 12), 76-15 over Tombstone (Jan. 20), 61-28 over Bisbee (Jan. 24), 54-35 over Benson (Jan. 27), and 59-23 over Willcox (Jan. 30);
Bisbee (8-3) with wins of 53-23 over Tombstone (Dec. 8), 56-37 over Willcox (Jan. 3), 60-36 over Morenci (Jan. 9), and 56-11 over Tucson Santa Rita (Jan. 13), 43-29 over Tombstone (Jan. 17), 54-43 over Benson (Jan. 9), 56-46 over Willcox (Jan. 27), and 53-16 over Tucson Santa Rita (Jan. 30);
Morenci (5-5) with wins of 51-48 over Benson (Dec, 1), 55-13 over Tucson Santa Rita (Dec. 13), 50-29 over Tombstone (Jan. 6), 50-46 over Willcox (Jan. 17), and 59-34 over Santa Rita (Jan. 20);
Benson (4-5) with wins of 75-32 over Tucson Santa Rita (Dec. 7), 49-42 over Bisbee (Dec. 13), 49-23 over Tombstone (Jan. 12), and 63-37 over Morenci (Jan. 24);
Willcox (4-6) with wins of 52-51 over Morenci (Dec. 8), 54-43 over Benson (Jan. 9), 67-47 over Tombstone (Jan. 10), and 50-24 over Tucson Santa Rita (Jan. 12); and
Tombstone (3-7) 50-44 over Willcox (Jan. 24), 45-21 over Santa Rita (Jan. 27), and 51-43 over Morenci (Jan. 30).
State rankings for region members on Feb. 1 were Pima (14-1 seeding, 15.0153 rating) No. 3 of 46, Bisbee (11-5, 7.0295) No. 9, Benson (9-6, 3.7541) No. 15, Willcox (8-7, 2.1517) No. 18, Morenci (7-8, 0.7182) No. 20, Tombstone (7-9, 0.0593) No. 25, and Tucson Santa Rita (1-12, minus 13.8668) No. 41.
2A State Rankings
Statewide rankings on Feb. 1 had the Valley Region 5-6 (.833) teams in the Top 24, East Region 5-7 (.714). The Metro Region listed 4-6 (.667) teams, the Central, North, and West Regions 3-7 (.429) apiece, and the South Region 1-6 (.167).
Valley Region San Carlos (19-0 seeding, 21.9635 rating) was the top team of 46, Metro Region Phoenix Country Day School (15-0, 20.5246) No. 2, East Region Pima (14-1, 15.0153) No. 3, South Region Phoenix Horizon Honors (15-1, 13.3384) No. 4, Metro Region Sedona Red Rock (13-2, 12.2326) No. 5, North Region Saint Johns (14-3, 10.6604) No. 6, Valley Region Gilbert Leading Edge (15-3, 10.3493) No. 7, Valley Region Miami (13-5, 7.7189) No. 8, East Region Bisbee (11-5, 7.0295) No. 9, and Central Region Glendale Prep (9-2, 6.9449) No. 10.
West Region Phoenix Arizona Lutheran (12-3, 6.8151) was No. 11, North Region Sanders Valley (11-5, 6.6808) No. 12, North Region Eagar Round Valley (13-5, 5.4405) No. 13, Valley Region Mesa Arete Prep (10-8, 3.9831) No. 14, East Region Benson (9-6, 3.7541) No. 15, West Region Kingman Academy (11-6, 3.6416) No. 16, Central Region Phoenix Christian (9-5, 3.0601) No. 17, East Region Willcox (8-7, 2.1517) No. 18, Metro Region Scottsdale Prep (8-8, 1.7690) No. 19, and East Region Morenci (7-8, 0.7182) No. 20.
Central Region Phoenix Basis (11-4, 0.5726) was No. 21, West Region Mohave Accelerated (11-5, 0.4943) No. 22, Metro Region Scottsdale Rancho Solano Prep (7-6, 0.4160) No. 23, and Valley Region Gilbert Classical (8-9, 0.2768) No. 24.
San Carlos (10-0 seeding, 17.1619 rating) was No. 1 during the initial rankings on Jan. 5, Gilbert Leading Edge (9-0, 13.8530) No. 2, Pima (4-0, 12.1850) No. 3, Phoenix Country Day School (6-0, 11.0224) No. 4, Sedona Red Rock (8-1, 10.5955) No. 5, Phoenix Horizon Honors (6-1, 8.013) No. 6, Saint Johns (5-1, 8.2053) No. 7, Glendale Prep (3-0, 7.9065) No. 8, Bisbee (5-3, 5.9995) No. 9, and Willcox 10th (4-2, 5.8457) No. 10.
Mesa Arete Prep was (6-2, 5.7891) No. 11, Sanders Valley (4-3, 5.4605) No. 12, Phoenix Christian (3-2, 4.9351) No. 13, Benson (5-2, 4.2864) No. 14, Gilbert Classical (6-3, 2.8134) No. 15, Morenci (3-3, 2.4660) No. 16, Miami (4-4, 2.2047) No. 17, Phoenix Basis (5-2, 1.6861) No. 18, Avondale Saint Paul II Catholic (6-2, 1.4973) No. 19, and Round Valley (3-2, 0.6199) No. 20.
Scottsdale Rancho Solano Prep (4-3, 0.4470) was No. 21, Chandler Prep (4-3, 0.3227) No. 22, Arizona Lutheran (3-2, 0.0956) No. 23, and Scottsdale Prep (4-2, minus 0.1873) No. 24.
