Sedona Red Rock High School will need more of a fight from Phoenix Christian High School when its basketball teams play there Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Because there wasn’t much suspense in their home openers Tuesday, Dec. 2, against Williams High School.
In the debut of head girls coach Dave Moncibaez, in fact, the game was almost over before it started. Moncibaez pulled his starters with two minutes to play in the first quarter but still could not avoid holding the Vikings to single digits, 74-9.
While the boys went into the locker room up 19, the Vikings outscored them by six in the third quarter. It took late free throws from sophomore forward Hayden Bruce to open up their final margin of a 77-55 win.
Girls Basketball
Senior guard Annie Parrella led all scorers with 17 points, 11 of those coming in the game’s first five minutes as a 32-4 opening quarter put the Vikings on ice.
“I think it was, like, 10-0, within the first minute,” Moncibaez said. “It’s always a gamble, because Annie got her first foul within 10 seconds. If she had gotten her second, we would’ve had to sit her.”
Her backcourt mate, sophomore guard Liza Westervelt, had most of her 13 points before halftime behind three three-point shots.
Junior Hannah Ringel spread 14 additional points across all four quarters, as sophomore Chenoa Crans did with 10 as she is quickly becoming a reliable fifth starter for Moncibaez at the wing.
Following a relatively subdued 17-3 second period, SRRHS came out of the locker room at halftime to achieve the rare feat of a shutout quarter — all behind a full-court press.
“We pressed right off the bat,” Moncibaez said. “We caused a lot of turnovers.”
Ultimately, all eight varsity players would get in the scorebook, as junior Xan Hawes pitched in after the first quarter with eight points and sophomores Joanne Toscano and Brittany Medel had five and three points, respectively.
Boys Basketball
Nine players got in the scorebook in a second straight balanced win for head coach C.J. Sells.
“Everybody scored at least five points the last two nights,” he said. “The kid that scored five tonight had 14 last night.”
That would be sophomore Wyatt Gregson, who hit a three-pointer with 3:31 to play to put the Scorpions up, 70-52, after pouring in 14 in a 37-point win at Anthem Preparatory Academy on Monday, Nov. 30.
But it was junior guard Randy Rodriguez who had 14 points to lead SRRHS on Dec. 1. Bruce added 13, making the Vikings pay for fouling him by making eight of his 10 free-throw attempts.
“He’s our smartest player, in terms of basketball sense,” Sells said. “We really don’t have point guards, so he sees the floor, knows where guys are at.”
Following a nip-and-tuck first four minutes, three-pointers by freshman Chase Saczalski and senior Wyatt Stevenson helped the Scorpions open up a 22-14 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Another 22-point second quarter doubled up the Vikings and extended the lead to 44-25 by halftime.
In the third quarter, the second of three three-pointers by sophomore guard Sebastian Morales opened up a 20-point lead for the Scorpions.
After letting the Vikings close to within 56-43 at the end of the third quarter, another three-point shot, this time by freshman guard Michael Ortega, re-established a 65-45 advantage.
Morales, Ortega and Saczalski each added nine points as the Scorpions head into the final two days of their home tournament, the Red Rock Hoops Classic, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4 and 5.
“We’re just so young,” Sells said. “We’re a work in progress.
“They’re doing what we want them to do, which is push the ball, shoot the three, and get up and down.”
Regardless of the status of his injured big men, senior Dawson Stevenson and sophomore Walker Cox, Sells believes he will continue to get balanced contributions up and down his five-guard lineup.
“We’re not going to be able to play half-court basketball against big guys,” he said. “So we’re going to have to get up-and-down and make big guys run.”
