If there was any doubt about the better basketball program in the Verde Valley between Camp Verde and Sedona Red Rock high schools, the Scorpions eliminated that emotion with a sweep Friday, Jan. 8.
Following a 53-45 loss Dec. 17 to the Cowboys in which head coach Dave Moncibaez’s girls went scoreless the final 3:26, sophomore Liza Westervelt’s 13 first-quarter points ensured that history would not be repeated in a 47-35 triumph.
Junior post Dawson Stevenson had 20 points, 16 of them in the second half, for head coach C.J. Sells’ boys team. He helped the Scorpions defense hold Cowboys senior guard Javier Perez to a three-year scoring low in the rivalry, as SRRHS took its Division IV, Section I opening games at CVHS by a combined 29 points.
The challenges continue for Sells and Moncibaez as their Scorpions teams must play four games in the next four days, starting Wednesday, Jan. 13, at 5:30 p.m. with a doubleheader against Chino Valley High School.
While the boys play three more games in the three days after that, Moncibaez’s girls must travel Thursday, Jan. 14, to River Valley High School before returning home for two more doubleheaders with the boys through Saturday, Jan. 16.
Girls Basketball
Westervelt opened the first six-and-a-half minutes on fire, raining down three three-pointers on her way to a game-high 16 points as part of a 16-0 start.
“That was probably the biggest thing, is that Sedona took us seriously,” added Mark Showers, CVHS head girls coach. “That’s a top five team.”
After senior Gabby Ontiveros lit up the Scorpions for six three-point shots and 21 points in a 53-45 loss Dec. 17 at SRRHS, Moncibaez’s defense “kept her down and out of the game a little bit,” he said. “For the first half, for sure.”
Ontiveros was still the leading scorer for the Cowboys with 15 points on four three-pointers, but her first trifecta was the only first-quarter mark in the CVHS scorebook.
“We stayed in our press, the whole game long, to control the tempo,” Moncibaez said. “We execute in practice really well, but we’re such a small team that it’s not five-on-five: Sometimes, in a game, we try and make those adjustments, too.”
Moncibaez credited the team’s preparation and “smarter defense” for its convincing road retaliation to the Cowboys, even though his bench had no points and defensive positioning got his starters in foul trouble at times.
Putbacks by junior forwards Sophia Perry and Hannah Ringel, who “worked her butt off,” Moncibaez said, stretched the lead to 15 through the end of the first period.
“She’s non-stop, she plays smart, she’s boxing out,” he added about Ringel. “She’s really taking care of her area.”
A seven-foot floater by senior point guard Annie Parrella made it a 20-4 game early in the second quarter before the Cowboys settled down and closed the gap to 12 by halftime.
“I wanted to make sure that we didn’t let up,” Moncibaez said. “We were a little bit impatient and, at times, rushing it.
“But nothing was going in. So we had to slow it down, tell them to calm down and relax. We’ve just got to maintain our composure and execute.”
With Perry finding Parrella and sophomore Joanne Toscano for easy layups against the Cowboys full-court press, the Scorpions expanded their lead to 20 with a minute-and-a-half to play in the third quarter.
“I’d like to get Sophia the ball more in the middle,” Moncibaez said. “She really allows us to execute more of our offense when we do get the ball in her hands.”
Third fouls incurred by Parrella and Ringel and a fourth on Toscano over the next two-and-a-half minutes were responsible for an 8-0 run that kept the Cowboys in the game, Moncibaez said.
“Not using that as an excuse, but they were able to make a little run when we got in some foul trouble,” he said. “They were already below us when we had to recover.”
The Cowboys pulled within 10 points before Ringel was fouled on a made layup off the assist from Westervelt with 55 seconds left.
“We still rushed some shots where we could’ve gotten some better possessions until there was a minute left and we were in complete control,” Moncibaez said. “If we can get more points per possession — more production and limit our turnovers — there’s no reason why we can’t be a top five team in the state.”
Boys Basketball
Unlike in previous rivalry games, sophomore Sebastian Morales, with help from freshman guard Chase Saczalski, limited CVHS senior guard Javier Perez to 27 points.
That seems like a lot, but it was the lowest Perez had scored against SRRHS in three years, and the rest of the Cowboys team only scored 16.
“He’s always going to get his,” Bruce said. “He’s a good basketball player. But definitely, our defense stepped up, big-time.”
The Cowboys led the Scorpions just once, 15-14, 70 seconds into the second quarter, when Perez stole a pass intended for Scorpions forward Hayden Bruce. But Morales quickly responded with a baseline three-point shot to retake the lead by two points.
After Perez went to the bench with his second foul, Bruce and Stevenson combined on an 8-2 run to end the half, isolating the junior on the Cowboys’ slower, smaller post players.
“[I] just play hard,” Stevenson said. “I give all the credit to my team. I couldn’t do it without my team.”
Although Perez brought the Cowboys back within a bucket twice in the third quarter, the key sequence came halfway through when Stevenson drove right at Perez to attempt a layup, and he was whistled for his fourth foul.
With Perez sidelined the rest of the period, the Scorpions built a 45-36 lead heading into the fourth quarter. He could only muster six points the rest of the way as Stevenson and his teammates at forward asserted themselves on the offensive and defensive glass.
“It definitely feels good to win this game,” Bruce said. “I feel like this gives us momentum.”
For more photos, please see the Wednesday, Jan. 13, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
