(Tucson, AZ) The Lady Aztecs were at home at the Pima West Campus to take on the Tohono O’odham Jegos in an ACCAC matchup.
The Jegos had their sights honed in beyond the arc as they hit two quick three pointers to take a quick 10-7 lead over the more experienced Aztecs.
With 2:05 left in the opening quarter, the Aztecs pulled within one at 16-15.
The Jegos were all over the offensive boards early as they got two or three attempts on most possessions.
Pima tied it briefly at 18-18 but the Jegos constant inside presence but only led 21-20 to close out the first quarter.
Hallie Lawson hit a sweet turn around jumper in the lane to finally give Pima their first lead at the 9:25 mark at 23-22.
Back and forth both teams went as there were four lead changes in a two and half minute span.
Marlena Arroyo-Plata gave the Aztecs a little space with two free throws to make it 33-28, but Torino O’odham quickly scored five points and they were all tied up again at 33-33.
Ana Martinez from Toronto O’odham picked up her third foul before the half which limited her effectiveness.
Briana Pitre hit a three from beyond the arc and Alyssa Perez hit a mid range jumper to pull Pima ahead 38-37 going into the halftime locker room.
Za ‘Raiah Griffin and Stephanie Teller both lead the Jegos with seven points apiece while Hallie Lawson came up big with thirteen first half points for the Aztecs.
The rebounding lead reversed in the latter part of the second quarter as the Aztec 23-19 and seven offensive boards.
The third quarter both teams never got any size lead and with four minutes to go it was tied again at 47-47.
Alyssa Perez woke up the crowd with back to back jumpers to give the Aztecs a 51-47 lead with 3:09 left in the third quarter.
Both teams were very evenly matched as the Jegos have drastically improved over the last two seasons. Pima held the top seed at this point in the season and Tohono O’odham was the fourth. Not a lot of space between the top and bottom getting ready for playoffs.
With under two minutes left Pima widened its lead to 57-49, the largest margin in the game to that point,
The quarter ended with a 61-52 Pima advantage,
A layup off transition by Perez put the Aztec lead in double digits 63-52 with less than a minute gone in the final quarter.
Singer fouled out for the Jegos with 8:32 left to go. That took a hit on the board for Toronto O’odham.
Lawson continued to score inside to put Pima up 67-52, but after the play at the Jegos end Perez from Pima and Cherokee Collins of the Jegos were assessed offsetting technical fouls for pushing and shoving.
Teller hit a three pointer off the left wing at the 6:45 mark to finally stop the scoring drought for Tohono O’odham to cut the deficit to 69-58.
The Jegos has difficulty cutting into the lead even after they scored because their short handed defense couldn’t contain Pima College.
Perez played her best game as an Aztec. She went 5-7 from the field. The Aztecs wore down the undermanned Jegos in the last of the fourth quarter giving them a hard fought victory 88-69.
Pima’s size won the rebounding battle 51-36 mostly in the second half, but the stat that stands out is the Aztecs went 33-35 from the charity stripe. In any level of basketball, that’s quite an accomplishment.
After the game, Head Coach Todd Holthaus said, “we changed to a 3-2 zone in the second half to slow down their perimeter scoring. That slowed them down.” When asked about the performance of Hallie Lawson he said, “she doesn’t even realize how good she is.” Lawson had a great first half scoring thirteen points on 5-7 shooting.
Mainstay JJ Nakai only scored six first half points, but exploded in the second half to finish with 26 points.
Pima will travel north to take on Mesa on Wednesday, February 13th. This is usually a hard fought game between two bitter rivals, although Mesa has had its problems this year. As the saying goes, “the game is won on the court, not on paper.”
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