Feb 08 Pumas run out of gas - Sierra Vista Herald

Matt Hickman•Herald/Review Bisbee High’s Katrina Morales dribbles in the open court after making a steal during Tuesday night’s Division III, Section II game at Fat Lever Gymnasium at Pueblo High School in Tucson. Gilbert Christian players Alex White (2) and Colleen Young (15) trail on the play.

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TUCSON — From the tip, the Bisbee High girls basketball team knew the Gilbert Christian Knights were a team they could play with.

But after a strong start propelled them to a 10-5 lead, the Pumas struggled mightily to sustain their energy level in a 55-45 loss in the opening game of sectionals Tuesday night at Pueblo High School.

A win would have guaranteed a spot in the state tournament for the third straight year for the Pumas, but with the loss they find themselves squarely on the bubble for an outside shot at making it back.

“I don’t know what explains that; we’ve had that this season, games when the energy hasn’t been there,” Bisbee head coach Doug Danforth said. “Gosh, you’d think it would be there for sectionals.”

Bisbee started out strong, going on a 10-2 run highlighted by three baskets from Bianca Borquez to go up 10-5 late in the first quarter only to see Gilbert Christian tie it at 10-10 heading to the second.

Bisbee’s offensive woes carried over into the second quarter, and a near seven-minute drought finally came to an end when Borquez hit from the baseline to end a 12-0 run by the Knights.

Bisbee went to the half trailing 21-14 thanks to an Ivette Flores basket from the elbow just before the horn, and a clearly fatigued Puma squad retreated to the locker room looking to lick its wounds and catch its breath. That might have happened were it not for the shooting of Gilbert Christian guard Alex White, who scored 13 of her game-high 23 in the third-quarter to keep the Pumas at arm’s length.

Megan Earnest hit Gabby Still for a layup that cut the margin to 28-20, but on the other end, White drew all net on a 3-pointer to make it an 11-point game. Bisbee again fought back as Earnest’s fifth blocked shot of the night triggered a fastbreak that ended with Flores scoring a layup on the other end to cut it to 31-24, but again White was there with the dagger. Her third from long range in the quarter, coupled with a putback a minute later helped the Knights to a comfortable 40-26 after three.

“(White) killed us,” Danforth said. “We made a couple of mistakes against their press and didn’t keep track of their 3-point shooter.”

Bisbee found its second wind one last time, getting as close as six after a pair of 3-pointers from Flores made it 45-39 with 2:50 to play. But 17 seconds later, Earnest was called for her fifth foul going for her seventh block of the night and the Pumas didn’t threaten again.

“We had chances in the fourth quarter,” Danforth said. “It was too bad; that was definitely a team we could beat.”

Borquez led Bisbee with 12 points, Flores had 10 and Still nine to go with nine rebounds and three blocked shots. 

Earnest, who was still recovering from a lung infection that kept her out of last Friday’s regular season finale against Benson, scored six points to go with four assists, five rebounds, six blocked shots and three steals. Katrina Morales also scored six.

Colleen Young was the second-leading scorer for Gilbert Christian with 12 points.

Late Tuesday night, the Pumas had moved up one spot from 25th to 24th in the Division III power point standings. The state field of 24 will be set by the 12 teams that won in sectionals Tuesday night, plus 12 at-large teams that lost. With a little luck, the Pumas could still sneak in with one of the last spots.

“It’s good we made  it to the postseason, but I think we had the potential to finish much higher,” Danforth said. “We really had some good players, but for some reason we really couldn’t put it together for a full season. We were up and down all year.”

 

Herald/Review sports editor Matt Hickman can be reached at 515-4612.

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