Fourth-quarter surge lifts Sunrise Mountain past Rams

Peoria Sunrise Mountain seized control in the decisive fourth quarter to post a 45-41 non-region victory Tuesday night over the Maricopa girls basketball team.

In snapping the Rams’ three-game winning streak, the visiting Mustangs began the final period with a 12-3 scoring run to increase their lead over Maricopa from 29-28 at the start of the quarter to 41-31 at the 4:10 mark.

While the Rams reduced the margin to six points on three occasions during the closing minutes and pulled within four on a jump shot at the buzzer by Paige Provost, the Mustangs were able to hold on for the win.

“We have not been in a close game like that where we haven’t had the lead and we’ve had to come back,” Maricopa coach Jennifer Miller said. “So tonight was a learning experience for these girls. A lot of them are young, and they just don’t know yet how to close a gap and pull off a win.”

Miller said the Rams, as a team, did not match the level of intensity they exhibited during last week’s consecutive wins over Gilbert Higley, Phoenix Sierra Linda and Scottsdale Coronado.
“We just didn’t push,” the Maricopa coach said.

The loss dropped Maricopa’s record to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the AIA power rankings for Class 4A-II.

Derona Mitchell led the Rams with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Provost finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Morgan Rainey added seven points and pulled down 11 rebounds for Maricopa.

Sunrise Mountain (3-2 overall) got 17 points each from Brooke Willette and Aida Arias.

After the Rams grabbed an early 11-6 lead on a three-pointer from the left corner by Provost, the Mustangs scored 10 of the next 12 points to pull ahead 16-13.

Maricopa responded with a 9-2 run to close out the first half. A 6-foot jump shot by Mitchell with 23 seconds remaining before halftime gave the Rams a 22-18 lead at the intermission.

Sunrise Mountain went ahead to stay at 25-24 on a three-pointer by Arias with 5:40 left in the third quarter.

During the Mustangs’ 12-3 surge to open the fourth, Willette scored six points and Arias added four as the visitors increased their advantage to 41-31.

A pair of layups by Rainey brought the Rams back within 41-35. After Willette drove to the basket for Sunrise Mountain to make it 43-35, Maricopa’s Paige Ellis stepped up for a rebound and layup to reduce the margin to 43-37 with 1:26 remaining.

“That kid works hard,” Miller said about Ellis, a junior who plays for both the varsity and JV. “It doesn’t matter what the score is. It doesn’t matter whether she is playing JV or varsity, she’s going to go all out. She came through big. She did more than what we asked her to do. We asked her to go in and get rebounds and play defense, and she managed to do that and put points on the board.”

After the Mustangs put the game out of reach with a layup by Arias with 35 seconds remaining, the Rams scored the final four points on field goals by Mitchell and Provost.