Sedona Red Rock High School’s girls basketball team entered its home gym for a game against Desert Heights Prep on Wednesday, Feb. 17, with a perfect record. The Scorpions left the gym the same way.
Playing for the second consecutive night, the SRRHS attack wasn’t always as crisp as it’s been for much of the season. But the end result was a familiar one in that Sedona not only won, but won decisively, finishing on the right end of a 61-26 final score.
“We tried our hardest — we know that this wasn’t our best game,” sophomore guard Mayra Parra-Landaverde said. “Even though we missed a lot of shots and did some bad stuff, we tried our hardest and pushed through the pain from the last game.”
The early minutes of the game were a struggle for Sedona — especially on offense. SRRHS coach Kirk Westervelt took a timeout much earlier than normal and even considered pulling the starters but opted against it. One of the main reasons was that while the offense was struggling, the defense remained strong. Because of that, the Scorpions’ only deficit came when the Coyotes led 2-0 in the opening minutes.
Sedona’s full court press helped create bad shots and turnovers that created fast break opportunities and uncontested layups for the Scorpions. That got the offense going. Sedona led 15-6 after the first quarter and put the game away in the second quarter, taking a 35-9 lead at halftime.
Junior forward Stephanie Medel led the Scorpions in scoring, finishing the game with 18 points. Sophomore guard Annabelle Cook and junior guard Nyah Valdez both had 12. Coming off of the bench, junior guard Hannah Lanchbury scored eight points and Parra-Landaverde finished with six.
“I think we played pretty good,” Cook said. “We came out a little flat but we really showcased our skills, how different we are, how fast we are and why we should be No. 1 in the state right now.”
The win over the Coyotes came one day after the Scorpions got their biggest test of the season in a road game against Glendale Prep on Tuesday, Feb. 16. Sedona passed that test, winning 43-34.
“Personally I loved it,” Cook said. “I’m a competitive athlete. I love those games and I’m pretty sure my team loved that game. It was a back-and-forth game the entire game. We showed why we’re ranked so high in the state and why we deserve that. Watch out for us. We’re coming.”
While Westervelt liked how his team handled the test against the Griffins, he also felt that it was a contributing factor to the slow start in Wednesday’s game.
“Glendale Prep sucked a lot of energy out of us,” Westervelt added. “They read the newspapers and they see AZpreps, with this team and its record. We weathered the first four minutes and we always play good defense. We can’t complain. No injuries. We shared the ball well, we ran the break well.”
In an odd quirk created by a COVID-19 related rescheduling, Sedona’s next game was also against Desert Heights Prep. The Scorpions traveled to Glendale to take on the Coyotes on Friday, Feb. 19. The result was similar, with SRRHS winning 57-23.
Facing the same opponent in consecutive games is one of the quirks of the COVID-19 schedule and is something that SRRHS will face again when it takes on Valley Lutheran at home on Tuesday, Feb. 23, and on the road the following day.
The next home game for Sedona will come on Saturday, Feb. 20, against Camp Verde. The Scorpions will be looking to avenge two tough losses to the Cowboys last season. That game, like all others remaining on the schedule, will begin at 5:30 p.m. It will also be streamed online at Zcalsports.com and on the Zcalsports.com Facebook page. The boys game, beginning at 7 p.m., will also be streamed.
