(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College women’s basketball team (20-10) is heading back to the NJCAA Region I, Division II Finals as the Aztecs protected home court on Wednesday.
The No. 2 seeded Aztecs defeated No. 3 Scottsdale Community College 54-45 in the semifinal round and will face off against No. 1 Mesa Community College for the 12th time in 14 years on Saturday in Mesa.
The Aztecs led 47-43 with 6:02 left in the game and held the Artichokes scoreless for three and a half minutes. The Aztecs were up 50-45 with 2:30 remaining.
Sophomore Keara Felix grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to make it 52-45. Freshman Matehya Aberle pulled down a defensive rebound on the ensuing possession and Felix hit a free throw to make it 53-45 with 48.2 seconds left.
Freshman Luisayde Chavez (Rio Rico HS) made a huge inbounds play as she defended and Scottsdale was called for a five-second violation. Aberle hit one more free throw to secure the win.
Sophomore Melissa Simmons scored a team-high 13 points to go along with five assists and three rebounds. She went 3 for 7 from beyond the arc.
Felix fell short of a double-double as she posted 11 points and nine rebounds (five offensive) to go along with three steals.
Player’s Quote: “The three times we’ve played Scottsdale, my presence has been shown in the game that I’m going to dominate in the paint. I was cleaning up the (offensive) boards and getting after them on defense,” Felix said. “Overall they put up a good fight but we were just stronger and more physical in the paint.”
Freshman Jaden Leslie (Dobson HS) went 4 for 7 from the field and scored 10 points off the bench.
Player’s Quote: “We came out really prepared. Our coach Tim (Larsen) had a great scouting report. He definitely played a big role in our success tonight,” Leslie said. “We had way more ball movement which is something that we started to work on and getting it into the paint so our posts could get good looks. We had quick ball movement, reverses so that we could get a good shot and just focusing and playing 110 percent on defense.”
Aberle scored nine points and freshman Jaslyn Booker (Buena HS) grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Aztecs and Mesa split the regular season meetings this season and will continue their storied history on Saturday at Mesa. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Felix was part of the Pima team that beat Mesa in 2020 where it was the only time the road team claimed victory in the Region Finals.
“That’s the biggest game of the year (against Mesa). The intensity is crazy. I’m very excited to play them again for the Region Championship,” Felix said. “My freshman year we got to play them at their house and we cut their nets. We’re looking to do it again this year.”
The Thunderbirds advanced by beating Glendale Community College 63-50.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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