Sophomore guard Liza Westervelt scored 52 points in two games Wednesday, June 10, outscoring Mingus Union High School by herself as the Sedona Red Rock High School girls basketball team remained unbeaten in the offseason.

Senior-to-be Annie Parrella, “just getting after it,” in her own words, also had 13 against Mayer High School, reproducing Westervelt’s feat as the Scorpions trounced the Wildcats, 55-12, at SRRHS.

“They just are enjoying themselves,” head coach Joe Donaldson said. “That’s critical. Summertime’s when you get better.”

This has been accomplished in addition to three-hour, voluntary Tuesday night practices and weight room sessions with just three other girls, besides Parrella, Westervelt and her sister Mary, at Donaldson’s disposal, with their opening two wins coming June 3 over MUHS and Camp Verde High School at CVHS.

“They’re playing together, and they want to come out and play and learn,” he said. “The girls are very supportive [while] working on other things, and I try to respect that extra demand on their time.”

It has also been done in the face of press defenses — and the Scorpions have used those four games to respond in kind with their vaunted three-quarter-court press that sparked a run to the Division III, Section III finals last season and a 14-9 record.

“It’s pretty intuitive, that three-quarter-court press,” Donaldson said. “We haven’t gotten real fancy yet because of our numbers, and I don’t want to exhaust them or have injuries.”

Junior Hannah Ringel and sophomore Nikki Zielinski also combined to score in double figures over the two games
June 10 at SRRHS, scoring 15 more points on the Marauders while holding them to one point less than their 40-32 victory in their first meeting of the summer June 3.

For the full story and more photos, please see the Friday, June 12, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.