Aztecs Women's Basketball can't hold fourth quarter lead, fall at No. 4 Mesa CC 73-72

The Pima Community College women's basketball team (6-2, 3-1 in ACCAC) took to the road for the first time in ACCAC conference play on Saturday in a match-up with rival Mesa Community College (5-2, 2-1) in a battle between two NJCAA nationally ranked programs.

• The No. 14 ranked Aztecs fell to the No. 4 Thunderbirds 73-72 in another classic meeting.
• Down 41-35 at halftime, the Aztecs took their first lead of the game in the third quarter after freshman Kennedi Niemann's basket made it 47-46. It was part of an 18-5 run as Pima held their biggest lead of the contest at 53-46. Freshman Gabby Lopez (Bisbee HS) hit a three-pointer to match the lead at 57-50. Pima outscored them 22-9 for the quarter.
• The Aztecs got points from Lopez and freshman Rori Hoffmeyer (Cibola HS) to make it 65-59 but the Thunderbirds scored on back-to-back possessions to cut Pima's lead to one point at 65-64. With the score at 67-66, sophomore Dominique Acosta (Nogales HS) scored on two straight possessions to make it 71-66 with 1:48 left in the game. Mesa went on a 5-0 run to tie it at 71-71.
• Acosta hit a free throw to put the Aztecs back up 72-71 with 18.1 seconds left but the Thunderbirds scored to take the lead for good with 12.4 seconds left. Freshman Rylei Waugh drove to the basket but missed a floater and Mesa came down with the rebound. They missed two free throws and the Aztecs had one final shot. Waugh got the inbounds pass with 2.8 seconds left and put up a shot from the right side of the basket but it hit the back of the rim as time expired.
• Niemann finished with a team-high 16 points as she went 7 for 9 from the field. She also had seven rebounds and three assists.
• Acosta scored all 13 of her points in the second half as she went 6 for 9 from the floor along with four rebounds.
• Waugh closed out the game with 10 points as she struggled going 2 for 15 from the field but was 6 for 6 from the foul line. She also had five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
• Sophomore Jordan Joe had nine points off the bench and Hoffmeyer posted eight points and eight rebounds.
• Each team's biggest lead was seven points and they each scored 30 points in the paint.

The Aztecs are back on the road on Wednesday when they play at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.

PCC   19   16   22   15   72
MCC  23   18    9    23   73