Fort Thomas boys, Rock Point girls earn state titles

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz.

The Findlay Toyota Center became a temple of sorts for the Native American community as their respective schools took part of this year’s Arizona state basketball tournament in the small school division.

Of the teams participating on Saturday, the Rock Point girls and the Fort Thomas boys were crowned state champions at the 1A level.

As the tournament’s No. 2 seed, the Lady Cougars won the school’s first state crown with a 69-61 triumph over No. 4 Baboquivari.

Top-ranked Fort Thomas, meanwhile, captured the program’s 12th state crown, its first since 2005 with a 62-46 win over Phoenix North Valley Christian Academy.

“I’m happy that we got to do this,” Fort Thomas 6-7 post Latrell Titla said. “Now I can go home and sleep, knowing that we won.”

En route to their championship win, the Apaches let their defense do all the talking as they led 28-15 at the break.

They extended that margin to as much 19 points before holding off the Lions.

“It took me four years to get here,” Fort Thomas coach Matthew Dona said. “Now we have the (gold) ball, I’m excited for the season we had.”

Like Dona, Rock Point girls coach Andrew Reed has been chasing that elusive gold ball for quite some time.

In his first season as the head coach his club finished as he reserve champion during the 2017 season and last year they got as far as the Final Four round.

“I’ve been after this state trophy for the last three years,” Reed said. “I told me girls that there is no quitting in us now. We were going to dig deep as far as we can and go after that state title.”

The Lady Cougars trailed by four late in the first half but Rock Point got a spark from junior guard Tierra John as she knotted the contest at 34-all at the break.

The Cougars carried that momentum over into the second half, building a 52-45 cushion going into the third.

“This doesn’t feel real,” said John, who added that it’s going to take some time to sink in.

Nonetheless, she said the team worked hard at conditioning themselves late in the season.

“All the running we did paid off,” she said. “I’m so proud of my sisters. This is my whole family and most of us are coming back next year.

“Hopefully, we can get another one for our school and our community,” she added.

In the 2A girls bracket, Valley senior Ranona Nez was clearly in a zone in her team’s quarterfinal win against Alchesay.

The Lady Pirate point guard finished with a game-high 28 points as Valley advanced with a 70-55 to reach next week’s Final Four round.

“I was really feeling it today,” Nez said, while adding that she entered the game a bit tense.

She wasn’t the only one as the entire squad had a tough time sleeping the night before.

“I think we were all anxious about this game,” Valley coach Dorothy Mitchell said. “The girls were tired but they pushed through it and we got our tickets punched for the Final Four.”

Valley will take on top seed Camp Verde on Friday at the Arizona Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum for a noon tipoff.

In the boys 2A bracket, the top-ranked Alchesay Falcons leaned on its defense to gain some separation against the Arizona Lutheran Coyotes.

The Falcons used a couple of defensive stops at the start of the first and second half to post a 53-36 win over the eighth-seeded Coyotes.

“What got us our lead wasn’t our offense, it was our defense,” Alchesay coach Kyle Goklish said. “We got some stops and we got some turnovers and we turned them into lay-ups and points.

Alchesay will play No. 5 seed Rancho Solano Prep at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

For a more in-depth story pick up a Navajo Times newspaper on Thursday.

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