Hoopster honored2 min read

Daniel Hargis/Larson Newspapers

Sedona Red Rock High School girls basketball junior point guard Liza Westervelt was recently honored with being named First Team All-2A Conference by The Arizona Republic.

Westervelt helped the Scorpions to a 29-2 record in the 2016-17 season and 10-0 in the Conference 2A Central Region. The team also secured a second consecutive Final Four berth in the Arizona Interscholastic Association 2A State Championship. She scored a career-high 31 points against Phoenix Christian Preparatory School on Feb. 1.

“It’s definitely a good feeling, I haven’t gotten first team before,” Westervelt said. “So that’s nice and just kind of like a compliment.”

Basketball is nonstop for the eldest of the Westervelt sisters. She is already back in the gym practicing three times a week with AZ Premier, a year-round girls club basketball team based in Phoenix, where many players from higher divisions play.

“You definitely play better competition,” said Westervelt, an AIA Second Team All-Division IV selection in 2016. “You’re surrounded with people with a high commitment level.”

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Liza began playing in the third grade when she saw that there was intramural basketball at Big Park Community School and said she shoots on a daily basis with her father, Kirk.

Red Rock outscored its opponents by an average of 34.4 points per game in regional play and finished with a score differential of plus-913 across the entire schedule.

“I thought we played really good as a team, as a whole,” Westervelt said.

She went on to say that she hopes that, despite the departure of senior forwards Sophia Perry and Hannah Ringel, the 2017-18 Scorpions squad can go further than it did this year. She also has the desire to play at the college level, but currently does not have any offers.

The selections made by The Arizona Republic are not representative of the AIA’s All-Conference 2A selections, which have yet to be released.

Larson Newspapers

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