THURSDAY PHOTOS

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More from local CBS sportscaster David Kelly.

If the season ended today, the list below would be my All-Freshmen teams for boys and girls. Of all these, you read about 10 of the 11 players listed here first.

The boy’s side is much more difficult to pick because usually freshmen have to earn their way to the top in the higher divisions (even if they are better than some of the upperclassmen) and play a year of junior varsity first. Coaches may deny it, but that’s they way it is – especially with boys who grow a foot after their freshmen year. Those freshmen usually don’t get recognized until their sophomore year.

The girls, on the other hand, typically play with the “big girls” regardless of class if they have the skills so we usually see some fantastic freshmen on the girl’s side every year.

Alexis Cortez, for instance, was well known on the club circuit before she stepped onto the court at Tucson High for first-year coach Annette Gutierrez. Having been an all-star herself at Salpointe, Gutierrez knows a player when she sees one and there is no way Cortez would have been stuck on JV.

Cortez is scoring almost 15 points a game for the top-rated Badgers (14-0) and she is also leading the team in rebounds.

Even though the players know who she is, the sudden media attention has caught her by surprise. “It’s a little hard to get used to,” explained Cortez. “A little overwhelming.”

Still, she loves her team and her teammates are the ones she turns to for leadership. “I love my team and how we are playing together,” she added. “It’s all good because we are a team.”

Cortez scored 10 points in Tucson’s 64-28 win over Catalina at the Flowing Wells Shoot-Out Thursday afternoon and junior guard Erin-Christine Rupp scored a game-high 14 points. Sophomore guard Bailey Johnson added 9 points and sophomore Ajonay Hodges scored 8.

Catalina was led by senior standout Itzel Hernandez-Camacho (15 points) and senior Kelli Rountree (6 points).

Cortez poured in 23 points in Tucson’s 76-30 win over Casa Grande Vista Grande later in the day. Rupp added 13 and senior Kyli McCorkle-Olbin added 12.

Catalina bounced back with a 36-28 victory over Vista Grande with Hernandez-Camacho scoring 8, Rountree 9 and junior Chanel Wilson also scoring 9.

The Desert Christian girls won both of their games today including a come from behind win over Deming, New Mexico.

Down 31-26 after three periods, Desert Christian sank 12 free throws in the fourth quarter and picked 10 points from senior Sarah Boice and 6 points from senior Nicole Ayers to out-score Deming 21-12 down the stretch to win 47-43.

Boice wound up with 22 points, Ayers had 8 and junior Lexis Rorrer had 6. Deming guard, sophomore Jessica Jasso was unstoppable with 24 points on the back of six 3-pointers.

Boice score 15 points to lead Desert Christian over Sunnyside 42-23 in an earlier game. Hannah Bjorgum added 11 and Ayers had 8. Yesenia Fragoso scored 5 for Sunnyside with Nadia Flores, Monica Jacobs and Anika Adams-Baker scoring 4 each.

Flowing Wells also took care of business with their All-State player, senior Lyndsay Leikem protecting her home court. But it wasn’t all Leikem as junior Shalise Fernander poured in 21 points to lead Flowing Wells over Nogales 49-19.

Leikem hit three 3 pointers for 9 points, senior Brianna Abeyta added 6 and junior Mikaela Cook scored 5. Sophomore Jessica Gradillas scored 5 for Nogales.

In earlier action, Leikem scored a game-high 13 points in a 60-18 win over Palo Verde. Cook added 10, senior Tatyana Portela scored 9, Fernander had 8 and junior Nikolina Vojvodic had 7. Palo Verde sophomore standout Sydni Stallworth had 11 points.

Sahuaro beat Casa Grande 58-24 in a game where the Cougars scored the first 21 points before Casa Grande scored with two minutes left in the first period.

Sydney Harden scored 13 points despite leaving the game for a while after she hit the floor hard early on. Freshman Reazsha Benjamin scored 12, junior Itzel Valencia-Gallegos added 8 and senior Chelsey Hunsaker had 7.

Sahuaro went on to defeat Rio Rico 51-32 to keep their record clean at the Shoot-Out.

My day began at Canyon del Oro where the Buena boys outlasted Cholla 70-58 at the NW Desert Classic.

Senior RaShawn Avery led Buena with 24 points with Eastern Oregon assistant coach Jeremy Harden in attendance. Harden played at Tucson High (2005) and led Pima to a top seven finish in 2010 before moving on to coach at Immaculate Heart.

Harden began his first year at Eastern Oregon this fall and is a true local success story.

Buena led 15-14 after the first period an increased their lead to 24-14 with 4:35 left in the first half but Cholla made a run fueled by a couple of 3-pointers from senior Andres Gomez to pull back to 30-29 at the half.

Senior Julio Duarte put Cholla up 31-30 with a couple of free throws to start the third period but Buena was able to take a 45-40 lead into the fourth period. Cholla tied the game up at 45-45 with 6:40 left but Buena went on a 11-2 run to go up 56-47.

Cholla could only get within seven points the rest of the way before falling behind 70-58 at the buzzer.

Cholla was led by 19 by Duarte, 12 from sophomore Jorge Carasco and 12 by Gomez. Besides Avery’s 24, Buena was led by 13 from sophomore Deonte Williams and 12 from junior Gilbert Pinckney.

The last game of the day featured the girls of Push Ridge against Seton Catholic.

Pusch Ridge battled all night but they could not break Seton’s early lead and lost 40-28. Seton has won three state championships in a row, including last year’s Division II title against top seed Peoria.

Returning from that team are junior Heather Heild, senior Anne Holter and junior Julia Barcello. Those three combined for 37 of Seton’s 52 points in the championship game last spring and they combined for 34 of Seton’s 40 points Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Pusch Ridge lost Abby Maas and Caroline Roessler to graduation and standout senior forward Noelle Soltero was out of town.

Soltero’s absence may have been the difference with Seton grabbing multiple boards and creating close shots for Heild. Despite the loss, Pusch Ridge played well with senior Gabrielle Courtney scoring 11, sophomore Olivia Christian added 7, sophomore Moriah Roters scoring 6 and senior Amanda Alexander scoring 4.

Heild scored 19, Holter had 9, Barcello added 6 as did senior Susan Spinner.

FAB FRESHMAN

Girls
Alexis Cortez, Tucson
Sydney Harden, Sahuaro
Lexy Ram, Ironwood Ridge
Tyree Honani, Catalina Foothills
Hannah Bjorgum, Desert Christian
Reazsha Benjamin, Sahuaro

Boys
Grant Plouck, Empire
Iturey Kitt, Santa Rita
Jacob Inclan, Sunnyside
Cameron Hodge, St. Gregory
Mark Lugo, St. Augustine

Flowing Wells Girls Shootout

December 27-28

Thursday, December 27
Tucson 64, Catalina 28
Tucson 76, Vista Grande 30
Desert Christian 42, Sunnyside 23
Desert Christian 47, Deming 43
Flowing Wells 60, Palo Verde 18
Flowing Wells 49, Nogales 19
Sahuaro 58, Casa Grande 24
Sahuaro 51, Rio Rico 32
Deming 49, Sunnyside 26
Nogales 60, Palo Verde 37
Rio Rico 68, Casa Grande 64

Friday, December 28
9 am: Casa Grande/Sunnyside
9 am: Vista Grande/Palo Verde
10:30 am: Rio Rico/Deming
10:30 am: Catalina/Nogales
Noon: Tucson/Flowing Wells
Noon: Sahuaro/Desert Christian
1:30 pm: White championship/consolation
3 pm: Blue championship/consolation
4:30 pm: Gold championship/consolation

Northwest Desert Classic

CDO & PRCA: December 26-29

BOYS

Wednesday, December 26
Cholla 67, Sahuarita 32
Sunnyside 80, Marana 35
Desert Christian 65, Pueblo 42
Buena 46, Sabino 41
Sahuarita 57, Pusch Ridge 51
Canyon del Oro 56, Marana 49
Cholla 68, Pusch Ridge 44

Thursday, December 27
Buena 70, Cholla 58
Marana 50, Pueblo 29
CDO 55, Desert Christian 47
Buena 65, Sahuarita 35
Sabino 53, PRCA 37
Sunnyside 71, CDO 51

Friday, December 28
11:40 am: Sabino vs Sahuarita (CDO)
11:40 am: Desert Christian vs Marana (PRCA)
1:20 pm: Sunnyside vs Pueblo (CDO)
4:40 pm: Cholla vs Sabino (CDO)
6:20 pm: CDO vs Pueblo (CDO)
8 pm: Sunnyside vs Desert Christian (CDO)
8 pm: PRCA vs Buena (PRCA)

GIRLS

Wednesday, December 26
Ironwood Ridge 43, Cienega 42
Desert Vista 64, Desert Ridge 27
PRCA 52, Sahuarita 20
Seaton Catholic 52, CDO 32

Thursday, December 27
Desert Vista 60, Cienega 38
Ironwood Ridge 58, Desert Ridge 25
Seaton Catholic 53, Sahuarita 37
PRCA 40, CDO 35
Desert Vista 61, Ironwood Ridge 52
Cienega 34, Desert Ridge 27
CDO 39, Sahuarita 31
Seaton Catholic 40, PRCA 28

Friday, December 28
1:20 pm: Sahuarita/Cienega
3 pm: Desert Ridge/CDO
4:40 pm: Desert Vista/Pusch Ridge
6:20 pm: Seton Catholic/Ironwood Ridge

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2012 at 11:14 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.