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The Miami Lady Vandals and San Carlos Lady Braves basketball teams took care of business in Prescott Valley over the weekend, and are moving on to Phoenix and the Division 2A state championship semifinals.
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The Miami Lady Vandals and San Carlos Lady Braves basketball teams took care of business in Prescott Valley over the weekend, and are moving on to Phoenix and the Division 2A state championship semifinals.
On Friday and Saturday at the Findlay Toyota Center, the second-seeded Lady Vandals and fourth-seeded Lady Braves both won decisively in the first round and quarterfinals, defeating their opponents by averages of 34 points (Miami) and 28 points (San Carlos).
Miami easily moved past the 15th-seeded Valley (Sanders) Lady Pirates in round one, 74-40. Freshman Tamia Pietila led the Lady Vandals with 25 points and made seven steals, while junior Demetria Dosela put up a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Miami junior Leeyah Goss also scored 15 and added seven steals, and senior Layla Thompson had a solid game with eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
Against the 10th-seeded Round Valley Lady Elks in the quarterfinals, the Lady Vandals cruised to a 71-37 victory. This time they were led by junior Savannah Pietila, with 24 points, and Demetria Dosela, who recorded 18 points, seven assists and seven steals.
This season, Tamia Pietila has been the 23-5 Lady Vandals' leading scorer, averaging 19.9 per game; she is also averaging 7.9 rebounds, six assists and six steals. Dosela has also been key, averaging 14.7 points and 8.4 rebounds.
The 26-3 Lady Braves' path to the semifinals was no harder, as the Section 2A Valley champions moved with ease past the 13th-seeded Tombstone Lady Yellow Jackets 62-35 and the fifth-seeded Glendale Prep Lady Griffins 48-28. No statistics for either game were available at press time.
San Carlos is led by junior Ellysia Cutter, who averages 20.3 points per game, and sophomore Kylee Juan (10.3).
The semifinals are being held Friday, Feb. 23 at Arizona Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, where Miami will take on the third-seeded Pima Lady Roughriders and San Carlos will face off against the #1 Phoenix Country Day Lady Eagles. The games are scheduled for noon (Miami-Pima) and 1:30 p.m. (San Carlos-PCD).
Unlike Miami and San Carlos, Pima and Phoenix Country Day made the semifinals through close, low-scoring games The Lady Roughriders got past sixth-seeded St. Johns 35-28 and the Lady Eagles overcame #8 Arizona Lutheran 50-42.
Miami will face a Pima team that has no single dominant scorer, but spreads the ball around. Three Pima players – senior Lea Llamas, junior Ady Hoopes and junior Sadie Richardson – each average around 10 points a game. In taking on the top-seeded Lady Eagles, San Carlos will face a pair of 20-point scorers in juniors Aila Kaibara and Olivia Owens; Owens also averages a double-double with close to 10 rebounds a game.
