Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: The Pima Roughriders quest for another 2A Girls State Basketball Championship fell short in the semifinals to Miami, 30-56.
By Jon Johnson
PHOENIX – The Pima Roughriders’ quest to return to championship form fell short at the hands of the Miami Vandals in the state semifinals at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Friday, Feb. 23, when they fell 30-56.
Miami used a lockdown, full-court press defense to open up a 24-5 lead midway through the second quarter that Pima could not recover from.
“They just outplayed us,” said Pima head coach Roy Corona. “They out-hustled us. We couldn’t handle the pressure, so I know where we gotta work on next year.”
No. 1-ranked Phoenix Country Day repeated as 2A Conference Girls Basketball State Champion with a 60-30 victory over Miami on Saturday, Feb. 24.
It was the fourth consecutive year Pima was in the state semifinals, after winning back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022 and finishing as the runner-up in 2023.
Ady Hoopes led the way for Pima and had 5 of her 7 points in the first quarter. A Hoopes free throw cut Miami’s lead to just one point, 6-5, with 4:51 left in the quarter, but the Vandals then went on an 18-0 run that lasted until a Kelsi Brimhall reverse layup ended the drought with 3:16 left in the second quarter.
“We had 15 turnovers in the first half,” Corona said. “You can’t have that against a good team like that.”
By the time Pima scored again, Demetria Dosela and Tamia Pietila were each already well into double figures, with Dosela ending the half with 13 and Pietila with 14. Dosela would edge her teammate out for the game-high with 22 points to Pietila’s 21. No other Vandal scored in double figures.
Demetria was dominant in the first quarter, scoring at will in a variety of ways from inside and outside, in the half-court and on the fast break.
She also hooked up with Tamia twice with an early assist off a steal and then repeated the same later in the quarter to double up Pima 10-5.
Demetria and Tamia both threw down shots from deep and at the horn of the first quarter Miami had amassed a 20-5 lead over a stunned Pima team.
Pima went 9:35 of game time without a score. The drought was finally broken when Kelsi Brimhall hit on a sweet reverse layup.
But Pima could only score at the charity stripe the rest of the half as Tamia nailed another 3-pointer to help put Miami up 29-13 as the teams went into the locker rooms at the break.
Demetria and the Vandals came out looking to put Pima away in the third with a jumper and then a score down low. Savannah Pietila then made a nice play off a defensive rebound and hurled a three-quarter court pass to Leeyah Goss for an easy layup.
But the Roughriders continued to battle and Sadie Richardson got the rebound put back to go. Ella Wiltbank then found home on a deep ball but Miami still led after three quarters, 40-22.
Wiltbank hit another 3-pointer early in the fourth, but Tamia responded with two rebound putbacks and a jumper.
Ady Hoopes showed a flash of her brilliant game and Jessica Schmidt nailed the longest two-pointer she could shoot. Still, it wasn’t enough to quell the green machine, who left the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum floor victorious, 56-30, over Pima in the 2A Conference Girls State Semifinals.
Ady Hoopes and Ella Wiltbank led Pima in scoring with 7 points each; Kelsi Brimhall finished with 6; Sadie Richardson had 5; Jessica Schmidt and Lea Llamas both had 2, and Macy Allred had 1 point.
For Miami, Demetria Dosela led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Tamia Pietila with 21, Savannah Pietila with 8, Layla Thompson with 3, and Leeyah Goss with 2 points.
“Overall, (it) was a great season,” Corona said. “Four years in a row in the semis – it’s neat.”
