Lady Rams win 3 games, lose in 2nd round of tourney

The Maricopa High School girls basketball team won more games in two days than the whole first month of the season, but it wasn’t enough to get past the second round of the Copa Hoops Tournament. Maricopa (5-10) was 3-3 in the two-day event and was ousted by Skyline in the second round Friday 40-20.

The host Rams began Thursday with a 22-point win over Gila Bend its second straight victory. Arcadia turned the tables on the Rams, however, scoring a 19-point victory over Maricopa in the second game of the round robin.

The back-and-forth of wins and losses would continue the rest of the tournament as the Rams then beat Ray High School 47-23, fell to Skyline 36-26, then beat Cibecue 47-41 in the first round of single-elimination bracket play.

The Rams faced Skyline, a 5A division school coached by Travis Brown, the former high school coach of Maricopa Head Coach Jenn Miller, again in the second round, losing 40-20. Maricopa played most of the game without its leading scorer, sophomore Brittany Parks, who left the game after being knocked to the floor in the first quarter.

“After it was clear that Brittany wasn’t going to return, I saw some of the girls hang their heads,” Miller said about the impact of Parks’ injury.

Miller said she believed the injury to be a mild concussion, and she expects Parks to make a full recovery before the next game.

As with most games this season, Miller said every game in the tournament came down to who wanted it more. After a long talk in the locker room following the tournament-ending loss, Miller said several of the girls said they want to work harder to get wins.

“Our goal right now is to improve in every game that we play,” Miller said, “and to win.”

The team’s next chance will be Friday against Santa Cruz.