Lady Cougars win second title

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz.

On Saturday evening, the Rock Point Lady Cougars faced Fort Thomas Lady Apache for the 2021 State 1A Championship.

After a one-year hiatus due to COVID, Rock Point was determined to make up for lost time, winning its second state crown with a 64-43 win.

Playing on an NBA sized court, the game was played in the Findlay Toyota Center with many attendants from the Navajo and Apache Nations.

The title game pitted the last two 1A state champions. Fort Thomas was the defending state champs and Rock Point claimed the 2019 title.

The game started with Rock Point winning the jump ball, but it was tough going as both teams played a tough defense.

Nearly two minutes had elapsed when the first basket was scored by Rock Point post Tamira John, but almost immediately the Lady Apaches got on board with a basket by Allenna Gilbert.

Both teams then exchanged baskets and Rock Point pulled ahead when junior power forward Arianne Begay nailed a trey to make the score 9-6.

From there, the score slowly inched away from Fort Thomas as the Apaches had trouble making baskets.

John played excellent defense, making multiple blocks and steals while Begay made the most baskets of the game.

During halftime, the officials took time to honor the 1997 St. Michael Lady Cardinal basketball team. Nine of the of the team members were there to be honored.

When the game resumed, Fort Thomas picked up the intensity, trying to make up the 32-21 deficit they faced against Rock Point.

Fort Thomas Jasmine Olivar made multiple steals and the Apache worked well together, but they had trouble making shots. Rock Point kept needling their defense and maintaining the pressure.

In the final quarter, it became an all-out sprint to try and win points. Fort Thomas was able to get as close as 8 points before Rock Point pulled away.

With Fort Thomas forced to foul, the Cougars were able to exploit that at the charity line. It was Shelby Chee’s two free throws that made the final score: 64-43.

Five of the 2019 state championship team were part of this year’s squad. Seven are seniors, but head coach Andrew Reed is confident that his returning players can win next year’s championship.

“I’m feeling awesome,” Reed said. “Yesterday we had a horrible game, but I told my girls ‘Hey let’s regroup and go after these guys.’ … I know Forth Thomas had very high hopes and everything, but we’d say, you know let’s play out game. We know we had a good team and the girls got back tougher and said let’s play our game and we sure did, and it paid off.”

Coupled with its state volleyball championship last fall, Rock Point is having a dominant year in girls’ sports. John and Begay both have two state titles under their belts.

“[Feeling] Proud and happy,” Begay said. “We played for the seniors who didn’t have a season last year.”

For John, she said it’s been a fulfilling year, especially after missing last year’s season.

“Overall, it was kind of scary,” John said in reference to the large crowd and trash-talking they were hearing. “But it was really great because I played for my sister [Tierra John] who’s in college and didn’t have a season last year… It feels like everything we worked for paid off. We run every day, shoot, talk and stay as a team. We know what we wanted and now we got it.”

The Cougars capped the season with a 15-game winning streak, ending its season with a 19-1 mark.

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