Basketball sectional results & schedule
by Andy Morales on Feb. 07, 2012, under SportsPHOTOS: http://andymorales.smugmug.com
Alicia Jones. Andy Morales Photos.
Power points continue to be calculated during sectional play. That may prove to be a bonus for those teams that win their first game but it may turn out to be a concern for those who were already on the bubble and then come up with a loss in the first round at sectionals.
As it is, teams that win their first game get an automatic bid to state, playing in the extra games after that just improves their seed for state where the top eight get a first-round bye.
The Sahuaro girls (12-7) are one of the bubble teams now that they lost to Palo Verde (16-3) in the first round of the D-II/S-I sectionals held at Flowing Wells High School Tuesday night.
The 52-33 loss unofficially puts them at 24th in power points while Palo Verde improved to 10th with a chance to jump into the top eight if they win their sectional tournament.
Palo Verde took a modest 13-8 lead after the first quarter and a 23-16 lead at the half but Sahuaro remained in the hunt.
Darian Saunders had 10 blocked shots on the night for Palo Verde and the 6-foot-1 center had two of those in the first minute of play. Combine her blocks and nine missed free throws and the Cougars were constantly playing catch up.
Senior Alicia Jones put Palo Verde on her back and scored all 10 points for her team in the second quarter and, by the time the third quarter ended, the multi-position player had 17 points to her name and a 38-26 lead.
Chelsey Hunsaker kept Sahuaro in the game by scoring seven of her 14 points in the third quarter but Saunders scored six in the fourth and Jones added four more to help Palo Verde pull away at the end.
Jones scored a game-high 21 points and Saunders added 12 for Palo Verde. Freshman guard Sydni Stallworth scored an impressive 10 points and senior Jasmine Brown scored 5.
Besides Hunsaker’s 14 points Briana Hicks scored 6 and Jamie Holliday scored 5 for Sahuaro.
Palo Verde will play Queen Creek in the semifinals scheduled for Thursday night at Amphitheater. Queen Creek earned the spot thanks to a 46-28 victory over Douglas in the late game.
Douglas was the second seed in the section and they were scrambling the whole night to stay competitive.
Queen Creek (13-6) played themselves into the state playoffs by coming out on top of a very poorly played game where both teams actually went over six minutes without scoring at one point in the first half.
Douglas (17-2) had a great press that Queen Creek could not break but they often dropped out of the press, letting Queen Creek off the hook for no apparent reason.
Douglas also had great guard play but too many bad decisions led to too may turnovers when the game was begging for a team to take control.
Queen Creek took a 10-7 lead with 1:58 left in the first period and the score remained that way until Queen Creek scored again with 3:40 left in the second quarter.
The score remained close for most of the game until Douglas fell behind 33-23 at the end of the third period. Seven players scored for Queen Creek while Douglas relied on just three players.
Aleen Nunez scored 11 for Douglas and Karina Avechuco added 10 while point guard Nythzia Machado scored 7.
Kelsey Jager scored a game-high 12 points for Queen Creek, Makaily Worthington scored 11, Sarah Hefington scored 8 and Summer Crewse added 7.
The loss did very little damage to Douglas as they still remain in the top eight in power points but teams such as Palo Verde can knock them out of a the first-round bye.
Flowing Wells (19-0) remain undefeated in D-II and will play Pusch Ridge (15-4) in the other semifinal game. It will be an interesting match between guard play by Pusch Ridge and inside play by Flowing Wells.
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It was a bad night in D-I action as Tucson, Buena and Cienega each lost by wide margins. All three appear safe for state however with Cienega falling the lowest to 21st.
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Safford, Benson and Thatcher move on in D-III play while Empire, Tanque Verde and Bisbee lost. The losses knocked Empire and Tanque Verde out of the top 24 while Bisbee is holding on at number 24.
Thatcher is trying for a top eight finish while Safford is trying to hold on to theirs.
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It was upset night in D-IV play as both Green Fields and Desert Christian lost. St. Gregory and St. David also fell.
Even with the loss, Green Fields is still listed as the top seed but that can change. San Miguel and Duncan will play in opposite semifinals Wednesday night at Cienega.
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Boys action included games from Division IV Tuesday night where Desert Christian and Duncan won.
St. David, Tohono O’Odham, St. Gregory and Patagonia all lost. The loss may have knocked St. David out of the state playoffs.
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SCHEDULE
GIRLS
Division I-Section II
Tuesday, February 7
(3) Highland 54, (6) Tucson 27
(2) Dobson 51, (7) Buena 20
(1) Chandler 63, (8) Cienega 21
Division II-Section I
Tuesday, February 7
(1) Flowing Wells 72, (8) Maricopa 43
(7) Queen Creek 46, (2) Douglas 28
(3) Palo Verde 52, (6) Sahuaro 33
(4) Pusch Ridge 47, (5) Cholla 32
Semifinals
Thursday, February 9
(1) Flowing Wells vs. (4) Pusch Ridge at Amphi, 7:30 pm
(3) Palo Verde vs. (7) Queen Creek at Amphi, 5:45 pm
Division III-Section II
Tuesday, February 7
(1) Safford 45, (8) San Carlos 31
(2) Benson 67, (7) Empire 51
(3) Thatcher 43, (6) Tanque Verde 31
(4) Gilbert Christian 55, (5) Bisbee 45
Semifinals
Friday, February 10
(1) Safford vs. (4) Gilbert Christian at Pueblo, 6:15 pm
(2) Benson vs. (3) Thatcher, Pueblo, 2:45 pm
Division IV-Section II
Tuesday, February 7
(8) Ft. Thomas 58, (1) Green Fields 48
(7) San Miguel 48, (2) Desert Christian 43
(4) Duncan 45, (5) St. Gregory 36
(3) Pima 26, (6) St. David 23
Semifinals
Wednesday, February 8
(8) Ft. Thomas vs. (4) Duncan at Cienega 7:30 pm
(7) San Miguel vs. (3) Pima at Cienega 4:30 pm
BOYS
Division I-Section II
Wednesday, February 8
(3) Ironwood Ridge vs. (6) Red Mountain at Desert Ridge, 5:45 pm
(4) Buena vs. (5) Gilbert at Mesquite: 5:45 pm
Division II-Section I
Wednesday, February 8
(8) Casa Grande at (1) Amphi, 7:30 pm
(3) Salpointe vs. (6) Douglas at Flowing Wells, 5:45 pm
(4) Nogales vs. (5) Catalina Foothills at Amphi, 5:45 pm
Division III-Section II
Wednesday, February 8
(1) Thatcher vs. (8) Florence at Pueblo, 7:30 pm
(3) Empire vs. (6) Tombstone at Cholla, 5:45 pm
(5) Rio Rico vs. (4) Globe at Pueblo, 5:45 pm
(7) Safford vs. (2) Gilbert Christian at Cholla, 7:30 pm
Division IV-Section II
Tuesday, February 7
(1) Desert Christian 56, (8) St. David 49
(2) Duncan 85, (7) Tohono O’Odham 38
(5) Ray 78, (4) St. Gregory 65
(3) Pima 49, (6) Patagonia 46
Semifinals
Wednesday, February 8
(1) Desert Christian vs. (5) Ray at Cienega, 6 pm
(2) Duncan 85 vs. (3) Pima at Cienega, 3 pm
BASKETBALL SECTIONAL PLAYOFF SCENARIO
As reported here first: The top eight teams from each section qualifies for the sectional tournaments. The top four from each sectional automatically qualifies for the state tournament. Since each division has three sections,12 automatic bids will come from the sectionals for each division.
Since there are now 24 teams at the state tournament for each division, the remaining 12 at-large bids will come from power points even if a team did not qualify for sectionals.
Seeding for the sectionals and the state tournaments will be based on power points. The top eight teams will get a first-round bye at state. Power points continue to be calculated during sectional play.
