Mesa women hang on for 66-59 win at Chandler-Gilbert
CHANDLER, AZ - Despite scoring a 51-point victory over Chandler-Gilbert when the two teams met in January at Theo Heap Gym, the Mesa women had to battle for a 66-59 win over the Coyotes Wednesday night on the road.
Combined with Pima's 82-68 loss to Central Arizona, MCC regains the ACCAC Division II lead by one game. The T-Birds, however, must finish ahead of Pima to claim the top spot in the region tournament as the Aztecs have a tie-breaker over MCC.
After five lead changes in the first half, MCC (18-9, 13-7) took a 28-23 halftime margin.
It never trailed in the second 20 minutes, but never had more than an 11-point lead.
The Coyotes (3-25, 3-17) cut the margin to four several times, the last at 55-51 with 3:49 to play on a layup by Jessica Neff, but the T-Birds responded with seven straight points to build the margin to 62-51 with 1:09 to play.
Taylor Reed (Fr., Kingman, AZ/Kingman H.S.) equalled her season high with 15 points to pace Mesa. Megan Gillespie (So., Phoenix, AZ/Arcadia H.S.) added 14 and Kylie Herd (So., Phoenix, AZ/Arcadia H.S.) had 11. Herd had a double-double with ten rebounds as MCC out-rebounded CGCC, 43-33.
Mesa hosts Eastern Arizona Saturday at 2:00 p.m.