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Kody Malouf

Short-handed Flagstaff girls basketball drops home game to Mesquite

A hard fought, back-and-forth girls basketball game between Flagstaff and Mesquite ended in a narrow 47-43 Wildcats win on Friday night in War Memorial Gymnasium.


Mesquite entered the game with a 5-0 record, outscoring their first five opponents by an average of 45 points per game this season. Flagstaff wanted to change that, as the Eagles' defense held Mesquite to their lowest point total of the season by 14, while the offense scored the second-most points against Mesquite this season.


Following the loss, Flagstaff coach Tyrone Johnson said he hoped his team now understands the level of competition they can compete with, especially when the Eagles were missing three key players in senior Sage Begay, junior Kenya Blie and senior Shandiin Lancaster.


“The biggest thing that hopefully they’ll take away [from the loss] is that we can play against quality teams,” Johnson said. “Their top player got hurt in the beginning, but she was able to come back, and one of our top players didn’t play at all. We had a couple other key girls out too, and even without those girls we were able to battle and compete. So hopefully they’ll take away that we can be good if we do things a certain way.”


Both teams employed dribble-drive offenses that utilized on-ball screens to create space for ball handlers. While Mesquite scored most of their points on fast-break attempts and second chances close to the basket, Flagstaff elected to swing the ball around the arc to get open shots from 3-point range. Their ability to hit open 3s was a main part of their offensive success, scoring 30 of their 43 total points from range with 10 made 3s.


After trailing for the majority of the first half, an offensive flurry -- including back-to-back 3s from freshman Bella Burcar and junior Jazmine Dugi -- gave Flagstaff a brief one-point lead as time dwindled in the first half, eventually leading to a tie at 27 after the first two quarters.


Burcar led the Eagles in scoring with 19 points -- including four 3s -- while junior MorningRain Honani scored 14 points and hit three shots from deep.


Burcar said 3-point shooting is something she “definitely works on and takes pride in,” and added that Flagstaff is “a good three-point shooting team when we can pass the ball around and get quick looks.”


Mesquite’s top scorer was sophomore Navae Guidry, whose 17 points came on eight field goals and one free throw. Fellow sophomore Kahlia Gonzales scored 12 points of her own, while junior Venessa Spulveda -- who returned to the game after suffering an injury seconds after tipoff -- added 11.


Despite the scrappy defense and timely shooting that kept the game tied at 33 entering the fourth quarter, the Eagles weren’t able to put the game out of reach in the final eight minutes. Instead, they allowed Mesquite to go on a five-minute, 12-4 run that ultimately clinched a victory for the Wildcats.

Johnson praised Mesquite’s play after the game and reflected on the little things that helped them come out on top.


“You could tell [Mesquite] were more poised than us in certain situations, and they controlled the tempo,” Johnson said. “We have to be able to control tempo and dictate space and our defense has to be more disruptive to their offense. There are a bunch of those kinds of things that we just didn’t do, and we let [Mesquite] get too comfortable [by doing things like] not fighting through a screen and letting them get open shots. They’re a good team, so they’re going to knock those down.”


Johnson added that “there are a lot of things” his team needs to work on before their next game.

The loss drops Flagstaff to 2-2 on the season, while Mesquite remains undefeated at 6-0. The Eagles' next game will be at Cactus Shadows on Wednesday.


*This article was originally published in the Arizona Daily Sun*

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