Flagstaff girls, Coconino boys win in rivalry basketball double-header | Local

ERIC NEWMAN Sun Sports Editor

The city rivalry between Flagstaff and Coconino’s boys and girls basketball teams felt truly real again Tuesday night, as fans packed the Coconino High School gym to see the back-to-back games between the Panthers and Eagles.

the no 4 Flagstaff girls (9-1, 5-0 Grand Canyon) defeated No. 12 Coconino (6-4, 5-1 Grand Canyon) 65-41. Afterward, in the boys game, no. 12 Coconino (8-2, 4-1 Grand Canyon) defended his home court against No. 16 Flagstaff (6-5, 3-2 Grand Canyon), 65-42.

Girls

In the first of two games, the Panthers and Eagles girls battled in the beginning. The two were knotted up at 13-13 after a quarter, and Coconino junior Lorelei Tessmer had seven of her 11 total points in the first period.

The teams traded leads in the second quarter, with neither taking an advantage of more than six points. Seemingly bothered by Coconino’s perimeter defense, the normally hot-shooting Eagles hit just two 3-pointers in the half, but offensive rebounds and solid defense on their own end led them to a 26-23 advantage at halftime.

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It wasn’t just tough defense that led both teams to a cold first half offensively. With fans back in attendance, following a 2020-21 winter season with limited attendance, it was the most packed crowd the teams have seen in years.

Flagstaff senior Gracelyn Nez, who finished with a game-high 18 points, said the atmosphere was fun, but also a bit intimate.

“I think it kind of scared some of our girls. For some of them it was the first time being in a crowd like this. But now we know for the next Coconino game that we just need to calm down and play our game,” she said.

The Eagles started to pull away in the second half. Coconino senior Wynter Huskie scored eight consecutive points — she finished with 16 in the game — to cut Flagstaff’s lead to just 32-31 late in the third quarter, but the Eagles finished the period on a 7-0 run themselves to lead 39 -31 heading into the fourth.

“Our energy got better. We started passing the ball better, seeing who was open and taking good shots, which helped a lot,” Nez said.

“In the second half, we were more willing to share the ball, more willing to pass. We weren’t trying to necessarily just go one-on-one,” added Flagstaff Tyrone Johnson added. “Sometimes in this atmosphere people want to show what they can do, and if we play together as a team we can show what we can do, so they did that.”

The Eagles ran away with the game in the final period, starting the quarter with a 14-2 run to put the game out of reach.

A factor in the victory was the return of sophomore guard Alyssa Harris for the Eagles. Harris missed several games earlier in the season due to injury, and made her return in a victory on Saturday against Paradise Honors. But, she played her first game back in the starting lineup Tuesday, adding an extra element to the Eagles’ already-solid group.

“She can be a leader out here. If she really buys in, I think we can go really far if Alyssa can play the game within herself in the right way. You can see how her talent will take her to big things,” Johnson said.

The Eagles will visit Mingus on Friday. Coconino is set to visit Lee Williams on Friday, as well.

Boys

Similar to the girls game, the crowded gym was loud to start the boys game between the Eagles and Panthers.

Rufus Cobb, a senior foreign exchange student for the Panthers, had been told what it might be like to play against Flagstaff, but was in awe when he got onto the floor.

“It was amazing. I’ve never played in a rivalry. When I ran out I got goosebumps,” he said.

The Panthers ran a set play to give Cobb an open alley-oop, which he dunked, to get the crowd going with even more fervor.

“We’ve been trying to get that in for ages,” Cobb said of the opening play. “I’ve been laying it in, and finally today I dunked it. The legs were feeling good.”

The Panthers and Eagles, much like in the girls game, were neck-and-neck in the first quarter. The two ran the floor at a fast pace, but a layup by Coconino junior Memphis James gave the Panthers a 15-12 lead after the first period.

Coconino increased its lead to 23-16 early in the second quarter, but Flagstaff went on a 7-0 run — including five points by senior Morgen Quotskuyva — to tie the score at 23-23. However, that would be the closest the Eagles would get to taking a lead, as Coconino finished the half with a 7-0 run of its own to lead 30-23 at the end of the first half.

Junior Ivory Washington had 11 of his game-high 13 points in the first half, including three 3s.

“He’s one of the most important guys in the region,” Coconino coach Mike Moran said of Washington. “I thought he could be Region Player of the Year. Every night he scores one of the first buckets, he dunks every now and then. He’s hitting 3s. He’s a superstar, and a great young man, too.”

Coconino executed effectively in the third quarter, increasing its advantage. Flagstaff senior Nick Morrow scored five of his team-high 11 points in the period, but the Eagles only got two more from the rest of the squad, and finished the quarter with just seven. Meanwhile, the Panthers scored 24 in the period, including eight by James, and led 54-30 heading into the final period.

Moran said his team simply calmed down a bit in the second half and played a fundamentally sound game.

“The crowd’s back, and you see that they’re going back and forth like high school kids can do in this environment. So we just got control of them and we felt we were in better shape in the second half. But it was all about playing better defense in the second half, getting back and rebounding,” Moran said.

Flagstaff scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Panthers, who kept playing their typical fast style and held on to win convincingly.

“I just think we had more legs than them at the end. We were conditioned, and I told the guys that there was blood in the water, so let’s go take it,” Cobb said.

The Panthers will visit Greenway on Thursday. The Eagles will visit Mingus Union on Friday in a region contest.

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