Camp Verde High School senior guard Gabby Ontiveros made the all-tournament team but went silent after a first-quarter three-point shot in a loss to Horizon Honors High School to finish fourth in the Yvonne Johnson Memorial Shootout.
The Cowboys fell to the Eagles after also losing by double digits to tournament champion Estrella Foothills High School in bracket play Dec. 30 to finish fourth.
Former Camp Verde Middle School guard Darien Loring hit three three-pointers in the first two minutes for Mingus Union High School in her first start to propel the Marauders to a blowout of Seligman High School and a 2-2 tournament mark for the Marauders as well.
Cowboys
Ontiveros’ three three-point shots keyed a 21-4 first quarter as the Cowboys ran away from Shadow Ridge High School, 62-33, in their tournament opener.
“We can’t just rest on our laurels,” head coach Mark Showers said. “We can’t just hang out.”
Ontiveros ended up scoring 12, while senior Allee Drake and junior Nieja Garner each added 14 as the Cowboys also held the Stallions under 10 points in the third quarter.
The Cowboys’ next matchup Dec. 12 with Rough Rock High School was considerably closer, with Drake’s five points pacing a 17-14 lead for CVHS at the end of the first quarter.
Production for the Sundevils ran dry after the Cowboys defense tightened up with a 14-5 second quarter.
Garner’s nine third-quarter points sparked a 19-6 period to open the second half, and she never looked back on the way to a 16-point afternoon — and win by the same margin.
“When people pressure you, you can’t give into the pressure,” Showers said. “You’ve got to relax.
“We’re still trying to find our rhythm.”
The wins gave the Cowboys the top seed out of the three teams in their pool.
It also put them directly in the sights, however, of two of the tournament’s top three teams — Estrella Foothills and Horizon Honors.
“Usually, you’ve got a whole lot of blowouts the first day,” Showers said. “We struggled against teams like Estrella Foothills that really pressured. We had to get bumped around a little bit.”
The results, especially with junior Kayla Hackett out with a back injury against the Eagles, weren’t pretty.
Senior all-tournament guard McKenna Arentz blew by the CVHS defense in a 40-25 Eagles win.
“I kept telling the girls, ‘I want you to play hard, I want you to learn some things from this tournament,’” Showers said. “‘Because it really means absolutely nothing.’”
Ontiveros’ three-pointers in the second and fourth quarters amounted to leading scorer for CVHS in a 53-20 loss to the Wolves.
“She had the flu, but she never gave up,” Showers said. “Credit to her — she worked hard, all four games.”
Marauders
With MUHS reeling after two straight Shootout losses, head coach Bri Young shook things up a bit to get a 50-33 win over Seligman High School.
After going just 1-4 Dec. 21 through 23 at the Lady Titan Winter Hoops Classic, MUHS opened the shootout just edging Mayer High School, 37-35, before losing their next two tournament games by a combined 14 points.
A competitive four-point loss Dec. 12 to runner-up Gilbert Christian High School was followed by a decisive 51-41 defeat at the hands of Parker High School to open bracket play.
“That was the best game we played this season,” Loring said. “We don’t suck individually, but we did suck as a team. Now, we’ve gained our confidence back.”
So Loring was called on to start over senior Vivian Koeppe, and she made the most of it to salvage a split for the Marauders.
“We were all just scared to shoot,” Loring said. “The first quarter was my shine.”
For all Camp Verde and Mingus scores from the Shootout, please see the Wednesday, Jan. 6, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
