The Pima Community College women’s basketball team is two games away from where its season ended last year — but the Aztecs are expecting to go even further this time around.
The Aztecs (19-11, 15-7 ACCAC) host Chandler-Gilbert in the NJCAA Region I, Division II semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday. If Pima wins, it will play in the regional finals Saturday.
For Brianna Pitre, a Sabino High School grad, this was the reason she came back home to play for the Aztecs.
The sophomore guard transferred from NCAA Division I University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to hopefully play a season at Pima that would end in the national tournament and lead to a Division I opportunity.
“I’m really happy,” Pitre said. “This is definitely what I wanted, so I’m just happy to be here.”
Coach Todd Holthaus is glad the team has earned its way back to the postseason and hopes the sophomores, who include leading scorer Jacqulynn “JJ” Nakai and Shauna Bribiescas, are able to lead the team into the national tournament.
“They’ve been there — they know,” Holthaus said. “I mean, we have a lot to even get to Saturday — we don’t ever want to look ahead. I think the biggest thing is just build off our experiences and stay true to who we are at this point.
“There’s no magic or fairy dust that we need (Tuesday). We’ve just got to go out and play the way we’re capable of playing.”
The Aztecs have already seen the Coyotes twice this season.
The first time, in a road game Jan. 12, Pima pulled out a close 71-68 win. On Feb. 20, the Aztecs won 81-62 at home.
Holthaus said the team will have to make sure it’s prepared and make sure it has done all of its homework — the Aztecs don’t want to leave anything to chance.
And that’s what Pima did leading up to the regional semis.
On Monday, the Aztecs were in the gym running offensive plays that Chandler-Gilbert often runs.
“They’re a good team — they’re in the playoffs for a reason,” Holthaus said of Chandler-Gilbert. “On any night, it can be anyone’s game.”
Pima sophomore Ryleigh Long said she doesn’t believe the Coyotes will come out with anything new on the court. They might try boxing out Nakai a little bit more, but she’s expecting them to do the same as before.
But even if they do, Long knows she can’t underestimate Chandler-Gilbert.
And they definitely can’t go into the game overly confident.
“That’s when we find ourselves not up by a lot,” Long said. “I think if we just come in, share the ball and play, we’ll find ourselves in a good position at the end of the game.”
For Holthaus, he just hopes the team is able to redeem itself this week from last year’s season-ending loss in the regional finals. He wants the team, especially the sophomores, to be able to vie for the national title.
“Honestly, I just hope it’s a good ending for the sophomores because of everything JJ has accomplished as an individual, and Shauna has been a tremendous leader for two years,” he said.
“We just don’t get kids like that all the time. I want them to reap the benefits of all their hard work, because we are demanding. For me as a coach, I’ll be here, hopefully for a long time, but for their short little time here, I want it to end in a fairy tale.”
