Maricopa girls win Holiday Hoops Classic

The Maricopa High School girls basketball team defeated all four of its opponents Wednesday and Thursday to win the Maricopa Holiday Hoops Classic championship for the second consecutive year.

After beginning the tournament with a 68-38 victory over Cibecue on Wednesday, the Rams raced past Glendale 63-18 later that day. Maricopa posted a 52-41 win over Tucson Pueblo on Thursday before beating Globe 56-23 to clinch the championship.

“This should be a huge confidence-builder for our girls,” Maricopa coach Jennifer Miller said. “They had kind of a rough stretch there at the end of the first half of the season (earlier in December). This is kind of a refueling – getting fired up, getting ready (for the second half of the schedule).

“They’ve worked out some of the kinks,” Miller added. “The chemistry looks pretty good. So we’re going to take it and go forward.”

The Rams received contributions from their entire roster during the tournament. Seven players finished with at least five points in the win over Cibecue, while 11 scored at least two points in the victory over Glendale.

“We really wanted to look at different combinations and see how different girls would do in situations,” Miller said. “It’s nice to win. It’s nice to have enough of a lead where the whole bench gets to play a lot. We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.”

Maricopa forwards Derona Mitchell and Julia Dickerson dominated the inside on both ends of the court throughout the tournament.

Mitchell, a sophomore, scored a total of 60 points in the four games, posting 20 points against Cibecue, 15 against Glendale, eight against Pueblo and 17 against Globe. Dickerson, a junior, finished with 48 points in the tournament, scoring 13 against Cibecue, four against Glendale, 12 against Pueblo and 19 against Globe.

Brianna Estrada directed the offense efficiently from her point guard position, while guard Paige Provost scored a total of 31 points in the tournament, including 11 in the game against Pueblo.

“We get stronger all the time,” Miller said about the Rams, who also received consistent scoring and rebounding from forwards Morgan Rainey and Paige Ellis. “Our bigs are doing a really good job, and as long as the bigs are doing their job, it kind of opens up the outside. And as long as the guards are doing a good job on the outside, it is going to open it up for the bigs. So they are going to be a tough team to defend.”

Miller also was happy with the way her team played defensively.

“They were doing a really good job trying to force the other team to the left, putting pressure on the ball and kind of rattling that passer so they could shoot those lanes and pick them off,” the Maricopa coach said.

The Rams defense created numerous turnovers, many of which led to scoring opportunities such as Mitchell’s steal and fast-break layup that gave Maricopa an early 10-1 lead in the game against Globe.

With the four tournament victories, the Rams improved to 10-6 overall. Maricopa is ranked eighth in the AIA power rankings in Class 4A-II, with a 4-3 record in games that count for power points.

The Rams (2-2 in the 4A-II East Sky Region) will return to the court next week with region games on the road against Scottsdale Notre Dame on Tuesday and defending 4A-II state champion Chandler Seton Catholic on Friday.

Tucson Ironwood Ridge won the boys championship in the Maricopa Holiday Hoops Classic, edging Fountain Hills 64-62 in Thursday’s title game.

Maricopa finished 3-3 in the tournament, defeating Tucson Empire twice and Globe once while losing to Fountain Hills, Apache Junction and Chandler Seton Catholic.

“The kids got a lot of experience,” Maricopa coach Andy Branchik said. “We have really tried to use this as a learning experience with our guys. We’re young and we’re a little inexperienced out there. A lot of the things that we’re doing are correctable mistakes that we’re doing to ourselves. We need to just improve and grow as the season goes along.”

The Rams began the tournament by posting a 68-38 victory over Empire on Wednesday and beating Globe 76-61 later that day.

In a Wednesday night match-up against Fountain Hills, the Rams trailed by just two points midway through the third quarter before the Class 3A powerhouse Falcons pulled away for a 55-36 win.

After falling behind 27-15 with 3:42 left in the second quarter, Maricopa drew within 28-25 when Travis Brown hit a 15-foot jump shot at the end of the half.

The Rams reduced their deficit to 32-30 on a reverse layup by Justin Warren with 4:25 left in the third, but Fountain Hills responded by scoring 16 consecutive points to make it 48-30.

Maricopa fell to Apache Junction early on Thursday before bouncing back with a 56-53 victory over Empire.

In Thursday’s game against Empire, the Rams (5-11 overall) tallied nine straight fourth-quarter points to reverse a 49-46 deficit into a 55-49 lead. Warren began the sequence with a fast-break layup, which was followed by a steal and drive to the basket by Brown, a layup by Tyler Carlson and a three-point play on a putback and ensuing free throw by Marcus Lowe.