Coach Stephenson talks to her team during a timeout(photo by Aaron Webster)
Coach Stephenson talks to her team during a timeout(photo by Aaron Webster)

Women's basketball survives late Artichoke rally, wins 64-58

Scottsdale, AZ-It was a tale of two halves as the Mesa women's basketball team defeated the Scottsdale Artichokes at Scottsdale, 64-58.

The Thunderbirds played well in the first half, getting great bench play from Janessa Aukward(Fr., Laveen, AZ, Sierra Linda H.S.) and Briana Clah(Fr., Chinle, AZ, Many Farms H.S.).  Aukward had 12 points, connecting on three pointers while Clah had six points on two three pointers of her own.  The T-Bird bench scored 19 points in the first half.

Kylie Herd(So., Phoenix, AZ, Arcadia H.S.) also contributed 12 of her game high 20 points on five rebounds in the first half, scoring the first eight of 12 points for Mesa.

Mesa's pushed its biggest lead to 32-14 near the seven minute mark and went into halftime with a 39-22 lead.

Artichoke pressure in the second half really put Mesa through a loop as they could not overcome the full court press.  Scottsdale took full advantage, trimming the lead slowly, getting to as close as two with two minutes to play.

Mesa turned the ball over on an inbounds play with less than two minutes to play, giving Scottsdale a chance to tie the game. But on the ensuing inbounds play, the Artichokes were called for what seemed to be a quick five second call.  Mesa again, with heavy pressure from Scottsdale, had a tough time inbounding the ball but Kylie Herd found Taylor Reed(Fr., Kingman, AZ, Kingman H.S.) who was able to get on the backside of the defense for an easy layup.

Scottsdale Head Coach Bike Medder was then assest a technical foul for what he thought was a five second call.  Because of the technical, Herd connected on one of two freethrows to finalize the victory for the T-Birds.

With the win, Mesa moves to 9-4 overall in the ACCAC, 14-6 overall.