The Mingus Union High School girls basketball team did all the damage necessary in the first quarter of its 42-33 Grand Canyon Section victory over visiting Prescott High School on Friday, Dec. 9.
The Marauders, who improved to 2-0 in sectional play and 4-2 overall, scored the first 12 points of the game to build a 16-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, and the Badgers would never get closer than nine.
“I think when we did run our offense we had some open shots and our girls were hitting the shots,” Mingus head coach Frank Nevarez said. “I think our press in the first quarter and third quarter helped us. I think our press was very, very, very good.”
Both teams started off slowly, turning the ball over on the first few possessions. Marauder sophomore Darien Loring finally broke open the game with eight straight points, sinking back-to-back three-point baskets before forcing a turnover and finishing with a layup in transition.
Mingus used an up-tempo, high-pressure defense to force turnovers, which also fatigued the players much quicker. As a result Prescott was able to gain some momentum and chip away, but the insurmountable Marauders lead always kept the Badgers at arm’s length.
In the second quarter Mingus was forced to continue working hard as Prescott enabled a full-court press defense of itsown, which threw the hosts off balance. After scoring seven straight points, including two from a steal directly from an inbounds pass, Nevarez was forced to take a timeout to settle his girls and stop the momentum.
“I saw our girls all of a sudden lose focus and their press was giving us some trouble,” Nevarez said. “I think the girls responded very well. So we came back out, got our composure and kept it going.”
Leading 26-17 after the break, the Marauders resumed their own full-court defense, but rushed their offense.
Between both teams only 14 points would be scored in a quarter in which both offenses struggled to find a spark, due in part to continued defensive intensity from both sides.
“They were picking up on our plays,” Mingus junior Nikki Zielinksi said. “I think we needed to stay calm and focus on passing rather than getting caught up in their defense.”
Nevarez echoed Zielinski’s sentiments, emphasizing the periods of time where his team loses concentration.
“Stay focused, it’s very, very clear,” Nevarez said. “I told the girls ‘let’s take some time off the clock’ and for whatever reason we felt like we had to shoot, [we] made some bad passes.”
The Badgers, who boasted a lineup with greater size than the host Marauders, struggled to get the ball inside to six-foot junior center Brittany Resendez, especially when faced with a zone defense.
“We were watching for the big girl whenever we moved left or right, we always made sure the middle was covered,” Loring said.
Resendez finished with six points and picked up three fouls.
“She [Resendez] bangs away,” Nevarez said. “She pushes her weight and if we didn’t really put our pressure on her she would have had a tremendous amount of layups. So we really had to slow her down and I think our post people, they did a great job on her.”
The Badgers did win the final quarter, 11-7, shooting four-for-14. Mingus shot two-for-seven and one-for-four from three.
Nevarez had praise for his bench players, who didn’t score a point but were vital to providing rest to the starters.
Down the stretch, Nevarez highlighted communication as one aspect that his team needs to work on. While playing man-to-man defense he felt like his players were not switching correctly, leading to easy baskets for Prescott.
Loring led all scorers with 23 points, nine of which from beyond the arc. For Prescott, senior Heather Sands scored 11.
The Marauders returned the court on Tuesday, Dec. 13, when they traveled to Washington High School, but results were not available at press time.
Mingus returns to section play at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16, when they take a trip to face off with the Bradshaw Mountain High School Bears.
