Behind a second half shutout on defense, the Camp Verde High School girls basketball team routed the visiting Mountain Lions from Mingus Mountain Academy, 59-9 on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at Dr. M.J. Westervelt Gymnasium.
The Cowboys [9-3] aimed to keep up their level of play and implement some new looks offensively.
“We’ll make some adjustments on the offensive end when we play a team like this so we’re not rubbing their noses in it,” 20th-year Camp Verde head coach Mark Showers said. “But we won’t make any adjustments on defense, we play hard on defense.”
Camp Verde started off scoring six unanswered points, but a three-pointer from the Lions cut the lead in half and sent the crowd into a loud roar.
The first quarter ended with the Cowboys leading 18-3, with 14 points coming from six-foot freshman Jacy Finley.
Mingus Mountain Academy tacked on another two-pointer and a free throw in the second quarter to reach its total of nine points for the evening.
Camp Verde consistently stole the ball from the Lions throughout, totaling 22 forced turnovers.
“I wanted them to play hard and execute,” Showers said. “A lot of times when you play a team at a lower level like that you start getting sloppy and doing stupid things, and in the first half that’s how we started out.”
Coming out of the break with a 32-9 lead, Camp Verde did just that, pitching a second-half shutout.
Throughout the second half the Cowboys gave minutes to their substitutes.
“I think it was pretty fun and a good opportunity for the younger players to get a chance to play,” freshman guard Anna Peterson said.
Offensively, the Cowboys showed more patience in the fourth quarter.
“[We] just [wanted] to work on a couple new plays we learned at practice yesterday,” Peterson said.
“They did a nice job in the second half,” Showers said. “They played hard in the second half, they played smart in the second half, they did the adjustments that I asked them to do.”
Mingus Mountain Academy’s first-year head coach Hannah Davidson was equally satisfied with her team’s performance.
“In today’s game I wanted my girls to work on their defense, I wanted them to work on their sportsmanship,” Davidson said. “They had a very good, hard game. We’ve come a long way in the last three games alone.”
Finley led the Cowboys with 20 points, senior forward Kayla Hackett had 10 and senior forward Marisa Presmyk and freshman forward Bennett Holm had eight each.
Camp Verde will host the Yvonne Johnson Memorial Tournament on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 29 and
Dec. 30 at the high school, middle school and the Camp Verde Community Center.
