The second straight Sedona Red Rock High School sectional sweep did not come easy for the boys basketball team, ranked ninth in Division IV by the Arizona Interscholastic Association.
Junior forward Dawson Stevenson carried the boys to a 52-49 victory with 15 points Wednesday, Jan. 13, against Chino Valley High School.
The 18th-ranked girls allowed just four first-half points by the Cougars, as junior forward Hannah Ringel posted her second straight double-double, leading all scorers with 14 points in a 62-19 blowout.
After they visit the Division IV team ranked ahead of them, River Valley High School, the girls return home for two straight with the boys against Northland Preparatory Academy and Joy Christian School, respectively, starting at 5:30 and 2:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 15 and 16.
Boys Basketball
Head coach C.J. Sells found certain qualities lacking in his team’s win.
“We played dumb,” he said. “We didn’t come out ready to play.
“We’re not patient. We don’t execute. We were horrible from the free-throw line.”
Stevenson missed five from the charity stripe as the Scorpions were outscored, 15-9, in the second quarter to go into halftime down, 22-19.
Stevenson’s brother, Wyatt, scored just six points. But during a pivotal sequence under the Cougars basket two minutes into the fourth quarter, Stevenson had, by Sells’ estimate, at least five offensive rebounds in a stretch of seven consecutive missed layups at the rim.
The rebounding drill finally ended when sophomore forward Winston Cox was fouled converting a baseline layup off the glass.
“We don’t make any of the bunnies, but we make the hard one,” Sells said. “Are you kidding me?”
He would miss the free throw, but his brother, Walker, would rebound and convert a 12-foot jumper to retake the lead.
“Two minutes to go in the game, and we’re taking bad shots,” Sells said. “We get bailed out by a foul call.”
The Scorpions have no time to practice with two more home games in the next two days.
“Everybody’s going to play because we need everybody for the weekend,” Sells said. “That’s all we said, was, ‘Go home, and come back better tomorrow, because there’s no practice for the other opponent. We just have to play better.’”
Girls Basketball
Beyond being “already tired” after their first of four games in four days, head coach Dave Moncibaez had zero complaints about his team’s victory over Chino Valley.
“We definitely need to get better at boxing out and rebounding in this stretch, or that’s going to hurt us,” he said after the Scorpions built a 39-4 halftime lead. “We kept pushing the tempo, and they couldn’t keep up with us at all. We pressed them all the way up until halftime, then kind of let up a little bit.”
Junior Xan Hawes stepped up with 12 points.
Senior point guard Annie Parrella added 11 points for Moncibaez, who still feels that his team has plenty of room to grow.
“We’re still striving to be in that top five,” he said.
For more photos, please see the Friday, Jan. 15, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
