As the final whistle blew Friday night, chants of “Why not us?” rang from every corner of the gymnasium at Amphitheater High School as the Sabino girls basketball team upset Pusch Ridge 52-34 to advance to the quarterfinals of the 3A state tournament.
“No one thought (we) were supposed to be here and I let them know no one thought (we) were supposed to be here,” Sabino head coach Jaamal Rhodes said. “So I asked them, ‘Do you want to keep playing or do you want to end your season right now?’ and they showed up and gave it all they got.”
The No. 10-seeded Sabino Sabercats were the underdog coming into Friday’s second round matchup with the No. 7 Pusch Ridge Lions. As soon as the ball was tipped, though, it didn’t take long for the Sabercats to prove they belonged.
Just minutes into play, Sabino (20-8) opened an 8-1 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers and never looked back, leading to the 18-point victory over Pusch Ridge (20-7).
Rhodes’ team opened the game by picking up full-court press and didn’t let up for the rest of play, pressuring the Pusch Ridge guards into tough situations time and time again.
“Defensively, you have to speed it up to get possessions ... and that set the tone for us,” Rhodes said.
Leading the way for the Sabercats was the consistent play of freshman guards Kamryn Doty, who finished with a team-high 16 points, and Trinity Yaeger, who added 15 points.
The duo combined for 31 of Sabino’s 52 points and nearly outscored the entire Pusch Ridge team (34).
After the game, Rhoades praised the play of both Doty and Yaeger, saying the duo was an instrumental cog in the team’s victory.
“I might have the best player in Southern Arizona in Kamryn Doty,” Rhodes said. “She’s seen this before ... and she’s the kid who gets to school at 6 o’clock and shoots before school, she’s the kid who is working out after practice. Although she’s a freshman on the basketball court, she’s been doing this quite a while.”
Pusch Ridge went into a press of its own late in the third quarter and was able to force the Sabercats into several turnovers at the start of the fourth quarter.
That press combined with building frustrations led to Pusch Ridge being in the bonus just 1:20 into the final quarter. However, the Lions weren’t able to capitalize on the charity stripe, going 6 for 11 from the foul line in the quarter and 11 for 25 for the entire game.
Looking forward, Sabino advances to a quarterfinals matchup on Monday with No. 2 Window Rock.
With just two seniors on the Sabino roster, the vast majority of Rhodes’ players have never been in this situation before. However, that doesn’t mean the Sabercats aren’t hungry for more. They want to keep their season going.
“No one has been here before, I have two seniors,” Rhodes said. “They’ve never been in the playoffs before. Now it’s just ... we want the kids to take on the mentality of the coaching staff: Be a dog. That’s it. Just be a dog.”
