Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: San Carlos left Guitteau Gymnasium with the girls 44th Eastern Arizona Holiday Tourney first-place trophy. It was their first in two tries. The Braves defeated Duncan 92-21 in round one, Morenci 66-39 in the semifinals, and Pima 53-50 in the final. Members of the Braves’ team were, not in order, head coach Crystal Pietila, Marissa Barrasa, Kayani Case, Heaven Cosen, Cheridan Gooday, Aaliyah Haozous, Courtney Henry, Alyssa Martin, Esperanza Newman, Alyssa Sneezy, Chastity Steele, Sonnaya Upshaw, and assistant coach Joel May.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
THATCHER – Top seed San Carlos came back to slip past second seed Pima 53-50. The pairing was during the 44th Eastern Arizona Holiday Tourney championship game Dec. 14. It was the seventh meeting of the top two seeds in the finale and the third straight win for the top seed in the most recent 12 tourneys (35th-44th). The second seed won eight times and the third seed once during the same 12-year (2008-2019) span.
San Carlos reached the championship game with wins of 92-21 over eighth seed Duncan in the first round and 66-39 over fifth seed Morenci in the semifinals.
Pima advanced with a 64-9 first-round win over seventh seed Willcox and a 66-40 semifinal win over third seed Thatcher.
Thatcher downed Morenci 43-29 for third place, sixth seed Fort Thomas defeated fourth seed Safford 56-48 for fifth place, and Willcox slipped past Duncan 23-20 for seventh place.
Advancing in the consolation round were Fort Thomas and Safford with wins of 61-24 over Willcox and 48-19 over Duncan, respectively.
The other first-round winners were Thatcher (69-58 over Fort Thomas) and Morenci (44-34 over Safford).
Championship Game
The Braves found themselves trailing 11-0 nearly seven minutes into the contest. Pima made five high-percentage shots plus 1-2 free throws.
“We weren’t boxing out,” San Carlos head coach Crystal Pietila said. “It was killings us.”
San Carlos came back to outscore Pima 25-16 over the next nine minutes to trail by two, 25-27, at halftime. The Braves led 42-37 heading into the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to finish strong,” Pietila said.
The Braves attained their initial lead of the game on senior Aaliyah Haozous’ 3-pointer, 28-27, with 1:55 elapsed in the second half. Pima got within a point, 35-36, with 1:51 left in the third quarter, but no closer during the rest of the game.
San Carlos made 23 field goals (two 3-pointers) plus 5-14 free throws compared to 20 field goals (one 3-pointer) plus 9-21 free throws by Pima. The Braves got scoring from seven different players, three in double digits, while Pima had six score with only one in double figures.
Senior Cheridan Gooday had 16 points on seven field goals plus 2-3 free throws, junior Chastity Steele 12 on five field goals (one 3-pointer) plus 1-3 free throws, and senior Heaven Cosen 11 on five field goals plus 1-2 free throws. Haozous added 7 points, senior Esperanza Newman 3, and both senior Courtney Henry and junior Kayani Case had 2 apiece.
For Pima, sophomore Saydee Allred contributed 18 points on eight field goals (one 3-pointer) plus 1-2 free throws. Junior Nevaeh Grant and sophomore Ashlie Sherwood both added 9 points, sophomore Aubrie Sherwood 6, and sophomores Maya Mattice and Samantha Piippo had 4 apiece.
Third Place
Morenci controlled the opening tip, missed a couple of shots, and Thatcher turned the ball over on initial possessions.
Morenci senior Brigid Silvester scored from long distance for the largest advantage the Wildcats would have in the game, with 40 seconds elapsed.
Thatcher juniors Cassidy Wakefield and Marleigh Nicholas added 2 and 3 points, respectively, before a pair of free throws by Morenci junior Destanee Marquez tied the score at 5-5 with 4:18 left in the quarter. It was the only tie of the game. Wakefield’s second field goal 10 seconds later gave the Eagles the lead for good.
The Eagles reached a double-digit advantage, 17-7, with 2:29 elapsed in the second quarter and led by 15, 22-7, before the Wildcats added their eighth point with 1:24 left in the half.
Morenci reached double figures with 41 seconds left in the half after connecting on 3-18 field goals plus 3-8 free throws. Thatcher had a 7-6 rebounding edge and made 10-22 field goals plus 2-4 free throws for a 14-point advantage at halftime. The margin held as both teams added 29 second-half points and Thatcher won 43-29.
For the game, Thatcher tallied 18 field goals (two 3-pointers) plus 5-11 free throws compared to 10 field goals (two 3-pointers) plus 7-14 free throws by Morenci.
Wakefield had 19 points on nine field goals plus 1-4 free throws and freshman Ashtyn Thompson 16 on six field goals plus 4-7 free throws. Nicholas added 6 points and sophomore Olivia Lunt had 2.
For Morenci, sophomore Zenayah Cortez got 12 points on four field goals plus 4-10 free throws and Silvester 10 on four field goals (two 3-pointers). Sophomore Juliauna Forgach-Aguilar added 4 points, Marquez 2, and freshman Mia Ontiveros had 1.
Fifth Place
The Apaches pulled away from a 27-26 half-time advantage with a 16-5 third quarter outing. Four different players contributed to the scoring with junior forward Kia Haws having nine of the 16 points.
A 17-13 Safford fourth quarter outing was not enough to erase the double-digit deficit at the start of the final eight minutes.
Fort Thomas totaled 22 field goals (six 3-pointers) plus 6-9 free throws compared to 18 field goals (four 3-pointers) plus 8-16 free throws by Safford.
Haws had 15 points on five field goals plus 5-6 free throws and senior Jordan Juan 14 on six field goals (two 3-pointers). Senior Angel Wright added 8 points, senior Layla Nelson 7, senior Viviana Talgo and sophomore Hailey Hinton 5 apiece, and sophomore Chase Stanley had 2.
For Safford, senior Jessica Bright-Shade tallied 15 points on six field goals (three 3-pointers). Senior Cambry Cluff added 9 points, junior Koree Villareal and freshman Briana Camarena 7 apiece, sophomore Ashtyn Schuh 6, and both junior Brooke Lucas and sophomore Ashlyn Schilling had 2 each.
Seventh Place
The closely contested game was decided in the final seconds.
Duncan led thrice, 2-0 with 1:28 and 4-2 with 4:18 elapsed in the first quarter, and 8-7 with 4:11 elapsed in the second quarter.
Willcox led four times, 7-4 with 19 seconds left in the first quarter; 13-10 with 20 seconds left in the second quarter; by as much as seven, 17-10, with 1:35 elapsed in the second half; and following the final tie of the game. A pair of free throws by junior Ana Barajas gave Willcox the lead for good with 3:39 left to play. The final tie at 19-19 four seconds earlier was the fifth of the game.
Trailing 20-21 with 1:36 remaining, Duncan missed the second of two free throws that would have tied the game a sixth time. A missed Wildkats field goal attempt and ensuing jump ball gave possession to Willcox. Sophomore Maycee Michaels scored her only basket of the game with 18 seconds left and a final Duncan field goal attempt did not fall.
Willcox totaled nine field goals (three 3-pointers) plus 2-2 free throws compared to eight field goals (one 3-pointer) plus 3-8 free throws by Duncan.
Senior Alma Barajas had 9 points, sophomore Kamrielle Wyatt 6, and senior Tapanga Alexander, Ana Barajas, Michaels, and sophomore Alyssa Rogers had 2 apiece.
For Duncan, junior Melissa Claridge netted 10 points on four field goals (one 3-pointer) plus 1-4 free throws. Senior Kaitlyn Lunt added 5 points, junior Hailai Moreno and freshman Kaylee Kempton 2 each, and sophomore Kiley McGrath had 1.
2019 All-tourney team
San Carlos senior Heaven Cosen (53 total points, 17.7 per game average) and Aaliyah Haozous (35, 11.7) along with Pima junior Neveah Grant (27, 9.0) and sophomores Saydee Allred (52, 17.3) and Aubrie Sherwood (27, 9.0) were selected to the all-tourney team.
Braves’ senior Cheridan Gooday (47, 15.7) was selected as the most valuable player.
The rest of the all-tourney team included Thatcher junior Cassidy Wakefield (32, 10.7) and freshman Ashlyn Thompson (54, 18.0), Morenci senior Brigid Silvester (27, 9.0), Fort Thomas senior Viviana Talgo (37, 12.3), Safford senior Jessica Bright-Schade (50, 16.7), Willcox senior Alma Barajas (19, 6.3) and Duncan junior Melissa Claridge (27, 9.0).
Bright-Schade, Cosen, Haozous, and Sylvester were also on the 2018 team.
Tourney Records
San Carlos is 1-1 as a finalist. The 2019 Braves set a meet single-game scoring record with its 71-point, 92-21, game 2 win over Duncan during the first round. San Carlos made 37 field goals (eleven 3-pointers) plus 7-12 free throws.
The previous high was 91 points by Thatcher against Clifton during game 4 of the 25th tourney first round (Dec. 20, 2000). The Eagles ended with 40 field goals (one 3-pointer) plus 10-13 free throws for a 61-point margin, 91-30.
Individually, Cosen became the third player to score 35 points in a game, tying Pima’s Shari Lunt and Clifton’s Roberta Lopez.
Cosen tossed in 15 field goals (three 3-pointers) plus 2-4 free throws against Duncan. It was during the first round game 2 of the 44th tourney on Dec. 12, 2019. The Braves ran away to a semifinal advancement.
Lunt connected on 13 field goals plus 9-14 free throws against Clifton. It was during the first round game 3 of the 11th tourney on Dec. 18, 1986. The Roughriders won 59-44.
Lopez made 13 field goals plus 9-17 free throws against Morenci. It was during the consolation round game 6 of the 13th tourney on Dec. 21, 1988. The Trojans prevailed 61-50.
Beginning as a 4-team, 2-day meet with two games each day during the nation’s 1976 bicentennial year, the ensuing 43 tourneys included eight teams with four games in three days. Morenci defeated Clifton 55-42 for the title after the Wildcats topped Thatcher 56-11 and the Trojans downed Safford 29-15 on the first day. Safford ended third with a 33-21 win over Thatcher.
After 44 tourneys, Safford is 93-37 overall, playing only two games in the 1998 tourney because the seventh-place game was not held, and Thatcher 89-42. Duncan (54-75) and Willcox (52-78) have both played in 43 tourneys, Pima (66-57) and Fort Thomas (59-64) in 41 tourneys, Morenci (58-61) in 40 tourneys, and San Carlos (5-1) in two tourneys.
Nine other teams have also participated, Clifton (19-72) in 31 tourneys, Miami (3-12) and New Mexico Cliff (9-6) in five tourneys, both Globe (5-1) and San Simon (1-5) in two tourneys, and Ajo (1-2), Eagar Round Valley (1-2), New Mexico Bayard Cobre (1-2), and Tucson Green Fields Country Day School (0-3) in one tourney apiece.
Safford is 16-9 in title games, won five in a row from 2014-18 (39th-43rd), three straight from 1983-85 (8th-10th), and winning back-to-back in 1990-91 (15th-16th); Thatcher 12-9 and has the meet record for most consecutive title wins, seven from 1997 – 2003 (22nd-28th); Pima 3-8, winning back-to-back in 1992-93 (17th-18th); Morenci 3-6; Willcox 3-2, winning back-to-back in 1992-93 (17th-18th), Duncan 2-3; and Fort Thomas 2-3, winning back-to-back in 2005-06 (30th-31st).
Four other finalists have two titles between them. Globe is 1-1, Cliff 1-0, and both Clifton and Round Valley 0-1 in the championship games.
