Rock Point girls to battle Fort Thomas in 1A finals

CHINLE

On Friday afternoon, No. 2 seed Rock Point Lady Cougars faced sixth seed St. Michael in the Arizona 1A state semifinals.

This was the third meeting between the two clubs, and they have both grown with the Cougars pulling off close 39-32 win.

Both teams are led by experienced coaches who took their respected teams to state.

Lady Cardinals coach Carl Adams won back-to-back state titles in 2017 and 2018 and this year squad is made up mostly of sophomores.

For Rock Point, they were led by coach Andrew Reed, who coached the team to the 2019 state title. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they missed the previous season and Reed was certain they could have won back-to-back titles.

The Cougars are gunning for its second state crown at 4 p.m. against top-seed Fort Thomas at 4 p.m. at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

Fort Thomas won its semifinal over No. 4 Leading Edge Academy by a 58-41 count.

In Rock Point’s semifinal win, Lady Cougar Adrianne Bahe made the first basket of the game. A few minutes later, Lady Cardinal Cameron Hanley responded with the first 3-pointer of the game. Another basket had St. Michael leading the second-seeded team before a basket by Bahe put them ahead again.

Both teams have strong defense, each one attempting a steal as the Lady Cardinals played closed and chose to making 3-pointers.

The score was tied four times in the first half, including at 22-all at the half.

When the teams returned they continued playing fast and hard. Rock Point’s Tamira John was key on the defensive end while Begay played well on offense, scoring most of the team’s points.

Senior Kalynn Smith was St. Michael’s leading scorer, making five 3s.

“We didn’t play our game. We didn’t bring our A game today,” Reed said. “We didn’t perform like how we usually perform.”

The Rock Point coach said they had too many turnovers and they did not rebound the ball as well.

“There was nothing,” he said. “We just hung in there.”

Reed gave credit to St. Michael for giving them a tough out.

“They really stepped up,” he said. “We knew this is what was going to happen. We knew it already, that they would come up and fight and, of course, they did.”

Despite the unexpected turn of events, Reed is certain the girls will be ready for their championship game and he thanked all the Rock Point fans for their continued support.

“I think it was [a wakeup call],” he said. “I told my girls, ‘We need to get our act straight.’ St. Michaels gave us a good game and that’s what we needed. They woke us up. Now, we are ready to go out on that gym and get Ft. Thomas. You will see a different team (today).”

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