Aztecs Women's Basketball has 8-game winning streak snapped in loss to No. 5 Mesa CC

The Pima Community College women's basketball team (17-4, 9-2 in ACCAC) faced a tough test on Wednesday as it battled with rival Mesa Community College (17-6, 11-0) at the West Campus Aztec Gymnasium.

• The No. 8 ranked Aztecs made a late run but fell short to the No. 5 ranked Thunderbirds 63-59 ending their eight-game winning streak. Pima's two loses in ACCAC conference play have come at the hands of Mesa. They fell 74-57 on Dec. 11 at Mesa.
• The Aztecs trailed 61-51 with three minutes left but got baskets from sophomore Mattanaya Vital (Amphitheater HS) and freshman Kiley Sours-Miller. Vital converted on a pair of free throws to cut it to 61-57 with 1:09 left. Mesa missed a shot attempt and Sours-Miller collected the defensive rebound. Sophomore Kennedi Niemann was fouled and she hit her two foul shots as the Thunderbirds called timeout with Pima down 61-59 with 34.3 seconds left. Pima was on an 8-0 run.
• The Thunderbirds drew a foul and Britany Kogbara made 1 for 2. The Aztecs called timeout with 5.8 seconds left with the score at 62-59. They got the ball to Vital but her three-point attempt was off the mark with 1.3 seconds left. The Thunderbirds made a final free throw to seal the game.
• The Thunderbirds used a 10-0 run in the first quarter to take the lead and never relinquished it. Pima trailed 14-10 after the first quarter and 32-24 at halftime.
• Trailing 39-30 in the third quarter, the Aztecs got a boost from Vital, who hit a pair of three-pointers and cut the deficit to 40-38 but Mesa scored five straight points to keep the advantage.
• The Aztecs were down 49-42 entering the fourth quarter. Mesa scored the first basket, but sophomore Rori Hoffmeyer (Cibola HS) converted on a three-point play and Sours-Miller scored inside to cut it again to a four-point deficit at 51-47. Mesa countered with an 8-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 59-47 with 4:33 left. Mesa grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.
• Sours-Miller finished with a game-high 19 points as she went 9 for 13 from the field. She also had eight rebounds and four blocks.
• Vital scored a Pima career-high 18 points as she went 5 for 10 from the field and 4 for 7 from three-point range. She was also 4 for 4 from the free throw line.
• Niemann closed out the game with nine points, five rebounds and four assists while Hoffmeyer contributed with seven points and nine rebounds.

The Aztecs will get a break from game play as they return to the court on Saturday, Feb. 5 when they head to Scottsdale Community College for an ACCAC conference contest. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.

MESA   14   18   17   14   63
PIMA    10   14   18   17   59