By Jon Johnson
PIMA – The Pima Roughriders girls basketball team finished their regular season with three straight wins, culminating with a 77-7 thrashing of the San Tan Charter Roadrunners in the final regular-season game on Thursday.
Pima (11-1 conference, 20-2 overall) is currently ranked first in the girls 2A Conference and third overall in the 1A-3A Copper State Bracket rankings. However, that could change with the release of the final rankings on Saturday, as Pima sits in second place in the 2A East after falling to rival San Carlos 32-53 on Jan. 30. San Carlos is currently ranked directly behind Pima at No. 2 in the 2A Conference and No. 4 in the Copper Open.
The Riders looked in championship form on Thursday as they held the Roadrunners to just three made field goals for the entire game.
The staunch defense led to numerous fast-break opportunities, and Pima’s guards pressed the pace and found open post players for easy layups all night long.
Sophomore Audrey Brimhall led all scorers with 15 and did nearly all of her damage in the third and fourth quarters, where she cleaned up the glass on the offense for rebound put-backs.
Morgan Russell finished with 14 points and was often the beneficiary of a dime from Hanna Ashby in the first half as the pair hooked up multiple times. Cheyanne Alder (7 points) also hit multiple times early to help give the Riders a 25-3 lead after one quarter of play.
The bench was opened in the second, but the onslaught continued as freshman Jacey Tilley (11 points) scored on multiple fast breaks and hit a long ball – one of four made by the team.
By the time the carnage stopped for the halftime break, it was 49-5.
Every player except one scored for Pima, led by Brimhall (15), followed by Russell (14), and Tilley (11). Hanna Ashby, Cheyanne Alder, and Macy Allred all had 7, Page Ashby had 6, and Jailey Tilley, Jolee Jarvis, Kera Clifford, Taylor Ashby, and Alana Apodaca all had 2 points each.
For San Tan Charter, Ameera Rivera hit the trey in the first; Tayen Bigman got the bucket in the second, and Alana Rick-Williams scored their final field goal in the fourth.
Pima will now wait and see what seeding the Roughriders get for the Copper State Championship for 1A-3A schools. The opening game will take place at Pima High School on Tuesday, Feb. 10, unless they drop to a 9 seed or worse, in which case they would be on the road. Final rankings will be released Saturday morning.
