Cinderella team? It is the tag that has been following the Maricopa High School girls basketball team in the Division II state playoffs. If that means earning success with lots of hard work, they will gladly wear the glass slipper.
By reaching the semifinals with another upset, the Rams have advanced farther than any Maricopa girls team ever has. (See the Gallery.)
Maricopa downed the No. 4 ranked Flagstaff Eagles, 58-47, Wednesday at the Gila River Arena. Unlike their two previous games, the Rams took command early. With a defense that frustrated a well-matched Flagstaff team and its fans, Maricopa jumped to an early 23-10 lead.
“I think we started pretty good,” junior Danae Ruiz said with some understatement. “We weren’t down like we were in the game against Tucson.”
At the half, in fact, the Rams led 30-17.
Ruiz scored Maricopa’s first seven points of the third quarter and led all scorers with 19 points after coming off a 15-point game against fifth-ranked Tucson.
By the end of the third, the score was 48-31. The Rams’ ability to outrebound Flagstaff kept the clock on their side even when shooting went cold at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
“I think we started getting too excited, started realizing the game was coming to an end,” Ruiz said. “We thought we had it.”
Knowing full well about comebacks, having been on both sides in recent games, the Rams kept up their intensity level. Coach Kati Burrows used her bench freely throughout the game, and the Eagles closed the gap in the fourth quarter.
***ADVERTISEMENT***“We played good but we could have played better,” said junior Raegene Womack, who scored 13.
Maricopa, now with a record of 27-5, faces Ironwood Ridge Friday in the Final Four. The 'Hawks, ranked ninth, pulled off a huge upset of their own by defeating previously unbeaten Cienega, 47-43, in overtime after having been soundly thumped by the Bobcats early in the season. The semifinal game will be at 4:15 at Grand Canyon University, 3300 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix.
“It actually feels great to get this far,” Womack said. “This is our first time getting this far and hopefully we can get all the way to state [final] because it will be a dream come true to do that.”
The Division II State Championship game is set for Monday at 2 p.m. in Gila River Arena in Glendale.
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