Valley’s state title bid ends in final

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz.

With a young and experienced team, the Valley Lady Pirates have to wait another year to cut the nets down after falling short in the Arizona Division IV state championship game.

After each finals, the Arizona Interscholastic Association allows the winning team to take part of that ritual as each member takes hope a piece string to commemorate the occasion.

The Lady Pirates could not overcome a slow start as they dropped a 67-61 decision to No. 8 seed Phoenix Christian Cougars in the girls final at the Prescott Valley Events Center in Prescott Valley, Ariz., on Saturday.

“All we can do is make another run at it next year,” Valley coach Julia Six said. “Like I said before everything has to fall into place and everything has to go your way to win state. I’ve learned that and it’s tough.”

Entering the finals, Phoenix Christian coach Bruce Consier said their playoff run was about preparing for top seed Gilbert Christian and after they dethroned the defending state champs in the quarterfinals the Cougars have been on a run.

“We worked so hard for Gilbert Christian,” he said. “They did that with confidence and it just carried over because we did not have an easy game in the playoffs.

“This is a team that everything started to fall into place at the right time,” he added. “I think it helped that we watched Valley even though we did not prepare for them.”

After they watched Valley beat Arizona Lutheran 51-34 in last Friday’s semifinals, Consier said it was vital that the Pirates’ defense did not fluster his club.

“We had to be patient and not panic,” he said. “We saw them play (Arizona Lutheran) and they got flustered and I didn’t want them to be flustered.”

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