Flagstaff girls reclaim 4A state crown: Lady Eagles win second title in three years

PHOENIX – For the third time in school history, the Flagstaff girls basketball team claimed a state championship trophy.

The third-seeded Lady Eagles (20-4) set the tempo early in Thursday’s Arizona Interscholastic Association 4A Conference title game, as Flagstaff pulled away with a 44-30 win over No. 4 seed Eastmark Firebirds (19-4) inside the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

The Eagles first state crown came in 1992. The latest title was Flagstaff’s second in the past three seasons under longtime coach Tyrone Johnson.

“It means a lot, especially with this group,” said Johnson, whose team capped the season on a four-game winning streak after losing its postseason opener to Raymond S. Kellis in the AIA Open Bracket on Feb. 18.

“You know, we had the one group when we won the first one a couple years ago that was really strong and for their senior year we lost in the Final Four,” Johnson said. “And we graduated about 10, and so we had a bunch of new faces, a bunch of inexperience and a lot of people didn’t give these girls a chance.

“They were like, it’s going to be tough for you all to win your region, and this is the year that you’re going to get beat in your region,” he added. “To be able to go through our region and to be able to beat some of our region teams in the playoffs, you know, I’m just in awe with the way these girls played.”

Flagstaff senior Teagan Martin, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, capped her prep career with two championship rings as she also played a critical role in Flagstaff’s 2023 championship team.

“The first state title was sweet, but it means the world to do it with this team,” Martin said. “To come here and lead my team my senior year is just bittersweet. I’m just so happy to do this with them.”

The Johnson-coached team got off to a promising start as FHS scored the first seven points with Martin draining an early 3.

“It was important to get a great start,” Johnson said. “We really wanted to get into them defensively and just disrupt what they did and have relentless pressure, and so we were able to do that.

“You know, Teagan hit her first 3 and when you see the ball go in early, especially in this type environment – it’s big,” the Flagstaff coach added. “We saw the ball go in early and we got a couple more baskets and then we were up 7-0 and it just energized us on the defensive end.”

In that opening quarter, the Eagles hit 5-of-9 shots as Martin went a perfect 3-for-3, which included a pair of 3s.

“We always pride ourselves on coming out strong because that’s the type of team that we are,” Martin said. “We have to push the pace, and with our conditioning we have to run, so coming out strong was really big for us.”

The Eagles cooled down a bit in the next stanza but they held Eastmark to one field goal as Flagstaff went into the break with a 22-5 advantage by making 8-of-19 shots at the half. Of those shots, six were assisted with junior guard Lexi Neal handing out three.

“I always try to look for the open teammate,” said Neal, who finished with seven points and a game-high five assists. “Like coach Johnson always says, we need to give up a good shot for a great shot.

“I’m mainly try to ‘D’ up and give good passes and score when I need to,” she added.

In the third, the Eagles outscored the Firebirds 14-to-10 with freshman Sunshine Begoody and Martin combining for a dozen of Flagstaff’s points.

Begoody opened the second half with a trey and her two-point basket with 1:47 left earned FHS a 33-14 cushion. Martin, meanwhile, hit two baskets earlier in the quarter and her 3-pointer with 58 seconds left gave the Eagles a commanding 36-15 cushion heading into the fourth for their largest lead of the night.

The momentum of the game, however, took a slight turn as the Firebirds went on a 9-0 run, which was spearheaded by senior Isabella Jackson. The Eastmark point guard nailed an early 3 in the fourth and her free throw with 4:38 left pulled the Firebirds within 36-23.

During that stretch, Flag got a bit stagnant as the Eagles missed three shots while turning over the ball two times as Johnson took advantage of the media timeout to compose his players.

“We got a little careless,” Johnson said. “I felt like we took some early shots and made some passes that we necessarily didn’t have to make. I told them now is not the time to shoot the ball, after we’ve had for six seconds. We’re not looking for a good shot, we’re looking for a great shot.

“We finally worked it around and Begoody was able to knock down a big 3,” he added.

That trifecta by the Flagstaff freshman came at the 2:33 mark as that basket snapped a six-minute scoring drought.

Begoody finished the game tied with Martin with 13 points, which included a 3-of-4 effort from beyond the 3-point arc.

“My 3s tonight, I think it was just catch and shoot,” Begoody said. “I didn’t want to think about things because when I think about stuff they don’t really fall, so it was just catch and shoot.”

“With her being a freshman and being able to have a game in this environment was huge,” Johnson added.

Despite graduating nine seniors later this spring, Flagstaff has some players to work with for a possible two-peat as the Eagles will return five freshmen, three juniors and two sophomores.

“Nine seniors are graduating and I think that will affect us,” Begoody said, “but I think we can come back stronger.”

“We’re just going to keep working hard and we’ll see what happens,” Neal added.

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