SIERRA VISTA INVITATIONAL: Defense carries Coronado girls

The harshest critic could have found plenty of room for improvement for Coronado’s girls basketball  team Wednesday.

The Cougars, though, were more than pleased just to find an aggressive defense and a victory.

After going 1-4 in a tournament last week at Centennial, Coronado opened play in the Sierra Vista Invitational with a 47-44 victory over Legacy.

“At least we played hard today,” said Coronado coach Bill Crego. “The games over at Centennial we didn’t play hard. We were getting the loose balls on the floor today. That was a big difference.”

The Cougars shot just 16-for-51 from the field, including an 8-for-24 effort in the first half, and committed 21 turnovers. Coronado had more than enough good looks to score 70 points.

But it made up for the poor shooting performance by constantly frustrating the Longhorns on defense and forcing 29 turnovers.

“I’ll bet we missed 20 layups,” Crego said. ”But I was really pleased with our defense.”

Coronado built a 33-25 lead a minute into the fourth quarter, but Legacy clawed its way back to within a point when Deja Brown’s basket in the paint made the score 42-41 with 2:52 to go.

Sofie Cruz’s two free throws with 32.1 seconds left stretched Coronado’s edge to 45-42.

Ashley Johnson swatted away Tori Payne’s drive to the basket with less than 15 seconds to go, and Cruz sank two more free throws with 5.4 seconds left to ice the game.

Cruz scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half. Johnson added 10 points, and Dajah Washington scored nine for Coronado.

“The whole team is more comfortable when the ball is in Sofie’s hands,” Crego said. “Everybody else needs to contribute. A lot of times when Sofie takes over like that, the other girls stand around and watch. It puts a lot of pressure on her, but it also allows other teams to try to take her away.

“We’ve been struggling a little lately, but the effort was there today.”

Payne had 15 points and 14 rebounds for Legacy, which got 10 points from Brown and nine points from Markeisha Evans.

Coronado 62, Canyon Springs 58 — Skylar Feldman tallied 10 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter to help the Cougars edge the Pioneers.

Washington had 18 points, and Cruz scored 12 for Coronado.

Cherise Beynon paced Canyon Springs with 17 points. Cooks scored 12, and Thrower had 11 points for the Pioneers, who got 10 points from LaKiya Yarber.

Canyon Springs 73, Palo Verde 35 — Beynon tallied 17 points, and the Pioneers began the game on a 20-3 run and never looked back.

Daijhan Cooks added 16 points, and Mandy Chitwood scored 12 for Canyon Springs, which got 10 points from Alexia Thrower.

Ioana Ganeva led Palo Verde with nine points.

Liberty 73, Palo Verde 31 — Sydney Clark tallied 18 points, and the Patriots used a 21-0 first-quarter run to rout the Panthers.

Tae’lor Monroe and Paris Strawther each added 15 points for Liberty.

Amber Cornelius paced Palo Verde with eight points.

Liberty 57, Legacy 10 — Jamellia Clark had 14 points, and the Patriots sprinted to a 40-7 halftime lead on their way to a win over the Longhorns.

Strawther added 10 points for Liberty.

Sara Pridgen had six points to lead Legacy.

Del Sol 47, Las Vegas 45 — Melissa DeSantiago tallied 17 points as the Dragons stunned the Wildcats.

Chloe Cabanas added eight points for Del Sol.

Shomari Harris had 16 points, and Shaleea Butler scored 14 for Las Vegas.

Silverado 50, Del Sol 42 — Brittany Loguidice poured in 33 points to lead the Skyhawks by the Dragons.

Cabanas had 16 points, and DeSantiago scored 12 for Del Sol.

Las Vegas 66, Sierra Vista 44 — Harris scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half to lead the Wildcats by the Mountain Lions.

Matti Ventling added 19 points, and Butler scored 17 for Las Vegas.

Melia Tadytin had 20 points for Sierra Vista, which scored the game’s final 16 points.

Foothill 66, Sierra Vista 24 — Anaya Rodisha tallied 14 points, and the Falcons jumped out to a 33-15 halftime lead on their way to a win over the Mountain Lions.

Taylor Turney added 13 points, and Kailani Killebrew scored 11 for Foothill.

Tadytin paced Sierra Vista with 10 points.

Foothill 81, Silverado 48 — Turney poured in 26 points, and the Falcons used a 24-6 first-quarter run to put away the Skyhawks.

Rodisha had 16 points, and Mikayla Yeakel scored 12 for Foothill.

Jasmyn Garcia led Silverado with 18 points, and Loguidice scored 13.