Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Pima senior starting guards, from left, Saydee Allred, Ashlie Sherwood, and Aubrie Sherwood, race down court as they end their high school basketball careers with a second consecutive 2A State Championship.
By Jon Johnson
PHOENIX – The two titans of girls 2A basketball finally came to a head Saturday afternoon in the hallowed halls of the “Madness on McDowell” at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. After 32 minutes of athletic savagery, the Pima Roughriders once again bested the Sedona Red Rock Scorpions for the 2A State Girls Basketball Championship and brought the gold ball back to Pima for the school’s first back-to-back girls basketball championships since 2002-03.
“I’m just so happy for the seniors and these girls that worked so hard this year,” said Pima head coach Roy Corona. “To get back-to-back championships – that’s hard to do for anybody at any level.”
While the contest was settled in regulation, like Pima’s 50-48 overtime championship win last year, the game came down to the final play. Fittingly, after such a defensive contest between the two juggernauts, it was a defensive play that ended the game.
With 11.1 seconds left and leading by two, Pima’s Aubrie Sherwood went to the free-throw line for a one-and-one. On her first shot, the ball hit the front of the rim and rolled to the back; it then bounced once, bounced twice, and came off into the awaiting hands of Sedona’s superb sophomore Rachel Roderick – the 2A Central Region Player of the Year. Roderick finished with 8 points on 4-9 shooting from the field, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist.
With only seconds left in the game, Roderick gathered the rebound and took the rock coast-to-coast. With about 6 seconds left she ran into Saydee Allred – the 2A East Region Player of the Year – defending at about the free-throw line. Roderick lost a high dribble and Allred poked the ball free to teammate Ashlynn Chlarson, who then passed it back to Allred. The senior guard headed down court while watching the clock tick down to zero and began to celebrate as Pima repeated as 2A State Girls Basketball Champions, 38-36 over Sedona Red Rock.
“They deserve it,” said Sedona head coach Kirk Westervelt said. “They’re good kids. It’s good to watch. Both teams are trying their hardest. There weren’t any cheap shots. They are clean competition and that’s all you can ask for.”
The two-point, last-play victory was fitting for the game, which saw the top-two programs in girls 2A basketball battle each other at every position for 32 minutes. Both teams came in with only one loss on their record – both to 4A Flagstaff during that school’s tournament.
“That’s a really good team,” Corona said. “They match us everywhere and that’s probably why it’s been so close.”
Pima won the game despite only scoring 2 points in the first quarter and shooting just 22% from the field, 8% from beyond the arc, and 59% from the charity stripe.
Sedona had a couple of bites at the apple at the end of the game, but couldn’t quite get over the hump. With 49.4 seconds left to play and Pima up by 1, Pima inbounded the ball to Jayci McClain, who dribbled up the right side of the court and attempted to pass to an open Saydee Allred. Sedona’s Stephanie Medel tipped the pass, however, and a trailing Helen Westervelt gathered the loose ball. Westervelt drove and passed ahead to Annabelle Cook in the corner, who immediately hit a cutting Medel. Ashlynn Chlarson came over on help defense and forced Medel to her right and into Jayci McClain, who took the ball away but then fell out of bounds.
With about 38 seconds left down by 1, Sedona had the inbounds play from the corner. Coach Westervelt told the Gila Herald after the game that normally his daughter Helen is on the receiving end of the play but that she had “hurt” her leg helping the family in a residential move the week prior. So, coach Westervelt inserted Medel in her spot. Medel to this point had been one of the Scorpions’ top performers on the day, hitting a team-best 5-8 from the field for 10 points.
“We kick that ball in the corner and down screen Chlarson and then throw it over the top,” coach Westervelt said. “The last time Chlarson blocked my daughter going before overtime . . . I said we gotta seal her and see what happens, and that’s what we were trying to do.”
Roderick came over to set a back screen on Allred who was defending Medel, who then sprinted toward the basket. The pass from Annabelle Cook was on target but with Allred defending Medel couldn’t gather it in and Chlarson snagged the loose ball and was fouled.
The Scorpions still were not in the penalty, however, and had to foul Aubrie Sherwood a couple of times before she made her way to the free-throw line.
Aubrie casually made the first free throw with 28.8 seconds left to give Pima a 2-point lead, 38-36. Aubrie swished the second free throw as well, but Roderick goaded Chlarson into entering the lane early and the violation negated the shot for no point.
Down by 2 with 28.8 seconds left to play Cook brought the ball up the court and was closely defended by Aubrie Sherwood. Cook got the ball to Westervelt along the left sideline with about 20 ticks to go with Westervelt being guarded by Ashlie Sherwood, who fought through a pick by Cook to stay with her opponent.
Westervelt (2-13 from the field, 0-3 from 3-point for 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals) drove to the right into the lane and then spun back to the left for her signature left hook off the glass. Chlarson provided help defense and went straight up with two hands to avoid a foul call and Westervelt just got it off over Chlarson’s outstretched arms. However, the ball went high off the glass and Allred ripped the rebound from Roderick and Medel. Falling to the ground, Allred got the ball to Aubrie Sherwood, who headed down court and was fouled by Nyah Valdez, setting up the final play of the game off the subsequent first missed free throw.
“I can’t even describe the feeling that we have,” Ashlie Sherwood said. “Last year was an emotional roller coaster and this year when she got that steal at the end I knew right as soon as we got it we were going to win. I have no words. I am just so proud of our team and our coaches – they are amazing. All those summers and hard work that we put in really paid off tonight.”
Ashlie had a tough night shooting and went 1-9 from the field and 0-4 from 3-point for 3 points, but she had 14 rebounds (7 offensive, 7 defensive) 4 assists, and 3 steals.
For the game, the Scorpions shot better from the field (35.6%) and better from 3-point (30.8%) but didn’t have a made free throw (0-2) compared to 10-17 for Pima. The Roughriders scored more points off turnovers (18 to 4) and second-chance points (14 to 8) and outrebounded Sedona 47 to 33 with 24 offensive rebounds compared to just 7 for Sedona.
The Scorpions came out determined and fired up about the chance to avenge the previous year’s last-second loss. Sedona held Pima to just 2 points in the opening quarter (both off free throws as Pima missed all 17 first-quarter shots) to take a 9-2 lead. For the game, Sedona held the lead for nearly 19 minutes, while Pima had the lead for about 10 minutes and the game was tied for roughly three minutes of gameplay.
“They made their runs and we made our runs,” said Sedona head coach Kirk Westervelt.
After Pima added another free throw, sparkplug off the bench Jayci McClain nailed a 3-pointer for Pima’s first bucket of the game early in the second quarter. Following the made basket, Pima inserted its zone full-court press and it immediately returned dividends with the steal and quick layup bucket by Aubrie Sherwood to cut Sedona’s lead to 8-9.
Westervelt took a time out but couldn’t stop the bleeding. Aubrie Sherwood gave Pima its first lead of the night, 10-9, and the hits kept coming as the Roughriders went on a 13-0 run to start the second quarter.
“The first quarter we struggled, then I put the press on and we caught them,” Corona said.
During the run, Helen Westervelt was called for her third foul and sat for about four minutes of game time in that pivotal second quarter.
With Westervelt on the bench, Pima stretched its lead to the biggest of the game at 9 points, 22-13, with under a minute left in the half. Sedona came back late, however, with a 3-pointer by Nyah Valdez (3-6 from deep for the game for 9 points) and a bucket to give Pima the edge, 22-18, at the half.
Sedona came out a team possessed in the third quarter and tied the game at 22-22. Allred answered with her only 3-pointer of the game. It was a poor shooting night for the all-star senior who went 2-19 from the field including 1-11 from 3-point and 3-4 from the free-throw line for 8 points and 9 rebounds. But like all good shooters, you don’t stop because you had some misses and hit an important one there.
However, Sedona answered right back with its own 3-pointer and then stretched its lead to 32-25 with less than 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Aubrie Sherwood hit a layup to stop the bleeding, but Pima was down 27-32 as they entered the fourth quarter.
Now it was the Roughriders’ turn to dial up the defensive pressure – holding the Scorpions to just 4 points in the final quarter and none in the final 3:48.
It was the Pima defense that forced turnovers by steals and a big block from Chlarson in the final quarter leading to fast-break opportunities and foul shots that turned the tide.
“That fourth quarter, man-to-man defense helped up with those steals at the end,” Corona said.
Pima tied and then took the lead briefly, 33-32, with 4:59 left to play after two made free throws by Aubrie Sherwood, who finished with a game-high 14 points on 5-14 shooting from the field, 0-4 from 3-point, and had 6 rebounds, 5 steals, and 1 block.
Sedona wasn’t finished, however, and quickly retook the lead and then extended it to a 3-point lead after Medel hit a layup with 3:48 left to play.
Down 35-36 with 3:23 to go, Aubrie Sherwood came up with a steal and headed down court. With her eyes up she spotted Chlarson sprinting ahead and lofted a pass over the defender. Chlarson gathered it in and scored the layup for the go-ahead points 37-36.
Chlarson finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting from the field and 2-4 from the foul line, 12 rebounds (7 offensive, 5 defensive), 4 steals, and 3 blocks to earn the Gila Herald’s designation as the MVP of the title game.
“They worked their tails off all year to get this one,” Corona said. “I’m so proud of those girls. I love them very much.”
Click here to view the Gila Herald’s Photo Album of the championship game.
