Region Champs! Flagstaff girls, Coconino boys capture league crowns

By Donovan Quintero and Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

FLAGSTAFF

In dominant fashion, the Flagstaff girls’ basketball team capped the 4A Grand Canyon Region with a perfect 12-0 record on Tuesday night.

The Lady Eagles defeated city rival Coconino at home with a 73-49 win.

“Well, you know, it’s a rivalry game and you always got to be ready,” Flagstaff coach Tyrone Johnson said. “Coach (Cassie) Schrader on the other side, she’s going to have her girls come out and they’re gonna be ready to play, but we have to be ready to take their best shot.”

In the boys’ contest, the Panthers of Coconino also captured the region title by besting Flag High with a 67-54 win.

Coconino finished the region race with a 10-2 record, ahead of Prescott and Flagstaff as the latter two teams compiled a 9-3 record.

The two Flagstaff squads earned bids in the 4A Conference Play-In game with Coconino earning the No. 10 seed while Flagstaff got the 14 seed.

The Panthers will host No. 23 Mica Mountain today while Flagstaff will entertain No. 19 Buckeye Union.

On Tuesday, the Panthers seized a 21-8 first quarter lead and at the half it was stretched to 36-21.

Behind a 26-point effort, the Eagles erased that 15-point deficit and led 47-45 going into the fourth.

Coconino bounced back by outscoring Flagstaff 22 to 7 in the fourth to take the region crown.

Coconino had 10 of its 13 players score headed by the 13 points turned in by Mitchell Jacobson and Rufus Cobb. With 10 points each, Ivory Washington and Matt Reber also chipped in.

For Flagstaff, Max Fritsch and Nicky Sneezy both finish with 18 points apiece.

Girls

The Lady Eagles seized a 20-3 first quarter lead and never looked back.

At the half, the Eagles led 38-21 and at the end of third it was stretched to 61-27.

“At this point of the year, we’re looking to try and play our best basketball,” Johnson said. “We want to play in a dominant fashion as we’re going into state, so hopefully that carries over into state and they can help us on a nice run in state.”

The Eagles got 24 points from Alyssa Harris while Gracelyn Nez added nine.

For Coconino, sophomore guard Kaelin Lee led the Panthers with 15 points while senior Wynter Huskie added 10.

The Schrader-coached team earned the No. 19 seed and they will travel to No. 14 Greenway on Friday.

After the play-in games are contested, the 16-team bracket will be reseeded according to overall rankings.

Flagstaff, which earned a bye, is expected to get the No. 5 seed based on Monday’s statewide polls.

“We were hoping to be high enough to get the No. 4 seed, but it’s looking like were going to be the 5 seed going in,” Johnson said. “That means we’ll have eight day off and we’ll be able to work on some things and really try and sharpen up some things for that first round game.”

Johnson said one of the areas they need to rectify is limiting their turnovers.

“We got to reduce some of them, especially the unforced turnovers when we’re just throwing the ball like to space and not necessarily to a person,” he said. “And then just being able to really get out and transition. I think we can run harder and better and we can get some easier looks than what we get at times.”

Defensively, Johnson said his club has to do a better job in communicating.

“We got to make sure to fight through those screens,” he said. “We got to start anticipating where people are going instead of getting beat like we did on a couple of those cuts.”

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