Citizen Staff Writer and Freelance
HIGH SCHOOL PLAYOFFS
ASH FRIEDERICH and KEN BRAZZLE
sports@tucsoncitizen.com
The Canyon del Oro High School girls basketball team spent much of Friday night’s Class 4A Division I quarterfinal going back and forth with visiting Prescott High.
With about six minutes left in the game, No. 1 seed CDO finally took control.
CDO closed the game on an 18-6 run to beat No. 9 Prescott 64-59 and advance to Thursday’s Class 4A-I semifinal against Phoenix Shadow Mountain at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena.
“It was a rough one,” CDO’s Naderra Carey said. “Our team worked together and we pulled it out at the end.”
Canyon del Oro was unfamiliar with Prescott, which beat Cienega in Tuesday’s 4A-I opening round.
“All we knew was that (Paige Ramm) averaged 15 points and I had to guard her.”
Whenever CDO fell behind, it worked the ball inside to Sarah Batterton, who had a game-high 24 points.
Ramm led Prescott with 23 points.
CDO’s high-pressure defense forced 22 turnovers in the win.
“It basically came down to defense and heart,” said CDO’s Nicole Ruiz.
No. 3 Cave Creek Cactus Shadows 44, No. 6 Sahuaro 27: At Cave Creek, Sahuaro’s season came to an end with a 22-8 record with the quarterfinal loss.
The Cougars had reached the 4A Kino Region championship.
Class 4A Division II
Palo Verde’s game plan against visiting Cottonwood Mingus backfired in a 49-47 4A-II quarterfinal loss Friday.
“We thought if they had to drive 3 1/2 hours to get down here, if we could get under their chin at the beginning, we might be able to push a little tempo and get the lead,” said Palo Verde coach Erik Brock. “Unfortunately, we tired out by doing so.
“We weren’t able to maintain that pace.”
No. 5 Mingus got a pair of free throws from Mary Rogers with 8.7 seconds remaining to knock off No. 4 Palo Verde, ending the Titans’ (25-5) season. The school record for wins is 26.
Palo Verde’s aggressive pace gave the Titans the lead for much of the game until Rogers’ 3-pointer in the fourth quarter gave Mingus a 43-42 lead.
Palo Verde senior Amber Cordova later hit one of two free throw attempts to tie the game at 47 with 22 seconds left.
It was the final point of the season for Palo Verde.
Palo Verde finished with three players in double figures – Darian Saunders and Amber Cordova each scored 12 points while Cindy Miranda had 10.
No. 1 Page 74, No. 8 Douglas 27: At Page, Douglas closed out its season at 13-10.