Sedona Red Rock High School’s girls basketball team finished its regular season in style in a road game on Friday, Feb. 7 against Northland Prep.
Sophomore guard Nyah Valdez buried a career high seven three-pointers on her way to leading the Scorpions with 27 points. Freshman guard Helen Westervelt added 16. Both Valdez’s and Westervelt’s individual point totals topped the entire team output of the Spartans as Sedona routed Northland Prep 60-9.
While the offensive output was strong, it was the defensive effort that had SRRHS Coach Kirk Westervelt most pleased.
“I thought we finished defensively the best over the last three games,” he said. “Overall I was extremely happy with how we finished defensively. Offensively, the shots might not always be there so you’ve got to be good defensively. We’re there.”
While the regular season is now complete, Sedona does have more basketball to play. It will start with a play-in game at home. Should the Scorpions prevail, they’ll move into the single-elimination state tournament. The first two games in the state tournament will be played in Prescott on Friday, Feb. 21 and Saturday, Feb. 22. If Sedona advanced, it would then play the semifinals on Friday, Feb. 28 and the finals on Saturday, Feb. 29, both in Phoenix.
Heading into the play-in game, Coach Westervelt likes where the team stands, even citing a 46-33 loss to 3A powerhouse Page in the Scorpions penultimate regular season.
“We’re healthy and that’s the biggest concern for me — I don’t want to be limping into the playoffs,” Coach Westervelt said. “And we played Page damn tight. That was a one-point game until the final minutes. There’s no 2A team that’s even close to Page.”
One of Sedona’s defining traits through the season has been its youth. With the exception of senior Mary Westervelt, the rest of the Scorpions are either freshmen or sophomores.
But with the regular season now complete, Coach Westervelt doesn’t feel as though the growing pains generally associated with young teams apply to the SRRHS group anymore.
“It’s been a baptism by fire,” the coach said. “I’ve told them, ‘You’re not freshmen anymore,’ even though they are. Sometimes it can rear its head and it will. But overall, they’re beyond that.
“I said, ‘If you win on Tuesday, it’s two weekends with two games and you can be a state champion,’ which we’ve never had here.”
Sedona wrapped up the season at 10-5 against 2A opponents and 8-4 in the 2A Central Region. The No. 1 through No. 8 ranked teams will receive a bye to the state tournament, while the No. 9 through No. 24 teams will square off in play-in games.
At press time, the Scorpions were ranked No. 13 in the state. The opponent is yet unknown for SRRHS’ next game at home on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
