In the
basketball playoffs, there’s not much time for waiting around to see what
develops and then reacting. You have to make things happen, be aggressive, or
you won’t hang around very long.
Xavier Prep
followed that blueprint on Wednesday night (Feb. 13), being aggressive from the
get-go and rolling to a 61-29 first-round victory over visiting Phoenix Desert Vista at the
Activity Center.
The Gators
(24-4), the 6A Conference’s second-seeded team, advance to Friday night’s (Feb.
15) quarterfinals at home against No. 10 Chandler High (15-14), one of Xavier’s
rivals in the Premier Region. Xavier defeated Chandler twice during the regular
season.
A win over
Chandler would send the Gators to the semifinals at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo
Arena at 3 p.m. on Feb. 21.
Xavier outscored
No. 15 Desert Vista 20-6 in the first quarter and never looked back. Xavier
defeated the Thunder once in the regular season and once in a holiday
tournament at Phoenix Arcadia.
The Gators
did not employ their trademark press, perhaps a bit of a surprise to the
Thunder, but were very aggressive as the ball crossed the halfcourt line. They
stole the ball on numerous occasions, many of those by senior guard Paris
Rasheed-Moore when she stepped in front of passes.
“I think
that gave us more energy,’’ said Xavier coach Jennifer Gillom.
Energy to focus
more on the offense and put the ball in the basket from seemingly all areas of
the floor. That included 3-point attempts. Xavier made six, half of those by
senior point guard Leilani McIntosh, who finished with a team-high 21 points.
Junior guard-forward Elysia Fleetwood was next with 16.
“We were
more proactive, not reactive, tonight,’’ Gillom said. “If we play every night
like we did tonight, that can make a huge difference. This is what we’ve got to
do when we try to get the win on Friday.’’
McIntosh
scored 10 of her points in the second quarter as Xavier outscored the Thunder
19-3. She had a streak of sorts by hitting a pair of treys to close out the
first half and another trey for the Gators’ first points of the second half.
Xavier
scored just five points in the fourth, including a 3-pointer by sophomore
Kailey Appel, under a running clock because the lead was larger than 30 points.
6A Conference basketball first round
Wednesday’
s results
(Seeding in
parentheses)
Chandler
Hamilton (1) 72, Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor (16) 42; Phoenix Mountain Pointe
(8) 63, Mesa Red Mountain (9) 42; Gilbert Highland (5) 48, Tucson High (12) 38;
Phoenix Pinnacle (4) 67, Anthem Boulder Creek (13) 42; Gilbert Perry (3) 63, Mesa
Westwood (14) 29; Surprise Valley Vista (6) 94, Yuma Cibola (11) 26; Chandler
High (10) 60, Scottsdale Chaparral (7) 45; Xavier
Prep (2) 61, Phoenix Desert Vista (15) 29.
6A Conference quarterfinals
All games on
Friday at 7 p.m.
Phoenix
Mountain Pointe at Chandler Hamilton, Gilbert Highland at Phoenix Pinnacle,
Surprise Valley Vista at Gilbert Perry, Chandler High at Xavier Prep.
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