Although Pueblo girls basketball senior America Cazares’ favorite class is math, she’s trying not to focus on the numbers as she chases history.
After the small forward passed her sister, Victoria, last season to become Pueblo’s all-time leading scorer, the question became whether she could become the first girls player in Arizona to reach 3,000 career points.
Her freshman year she scored 527, then she had 740 as a sophomore and 759 last season in 27 games. Cazares has scored 404 in 14 games so far this season.
Pueblo head coach Ismael Galindo said she’s played well this year despite the distractions.
Pueblo girls basketball head coach Ismael Galindo, center, talks to his team, including America Cazares (upper right) at halftime in the Flowing Wells Holiday Shootout match against Sunnyside High School, Dec. 30, 2025.
“I think it's kind of hard for her just because of the fact that everybody’s in her head about hitting 3,000 and I'm trying to tell her ‘hey, you know what? Let's just win games and at the end of the season, if we're close,’ — I told her —‘I’ll make sure you get it if you're close,’ if not, we're not going to worry about it, but I'm sure it's in her head and parents and everybody understands,” Galindo said. “All the posts you see are 3,000, 3,000, right? That can kind of hurt you at some points when you're thinking of that instead of winning the game, but for the most part she's doing good.”
Cazares has 2,430 points in her career.
She is averaging 28.9 points per game, which is 31st in the country, according to MaxPreps as of Sunday. She’s 36th in the country in field goals made with 155 and 149th in three-pointers made (41).
She has 11 regular season games left to get the record. Last year, the Warriors played three postseason games.
“Yeah, they're asking all the time and I want to, I just need to work for it,” Cazares said.
Julie Brase holds the career girls state scoring record with 2,913 scored during her time at Catalina Foothills, from 1994 to 1998. Alyssa Brown of Sahuaro is second with 2,680 from 2017 to 2021 but AIA notes she missed out on games due to COVID-19.
America Cazares, a senior varsity basketball player for Pueblo High School, poses for a portrait before the Warriors take on the Sunnyside Blue Devils in the Flowing Wells Holiday Shootout, Dec. 30, 2025.
“Yeah, it's cool, so I want to be up there,” Cazares said about local players being atop the scoring chart. “I want to be known for being up there, so I definitely want to score my 3,000.”
Brown played for UNLV and Brase, the granddaughter to Lute Olson, is now Julie Hairgrove and serves as assistant coach and director of player development for UA women’s basketball.
Cazares has moved up to No. 8 on the all-time scoring chart, just behind Nicole Powell, who went to Phoenix Mountain Pointe and scored 2,478.
Cazares is second on the state’s all-time most points in a game chart, having scored 59 against Palo Verde as a sophomore. She’s tied for 12th in most 3s in a game with 10, also against the Titans.
Galindo, who built up the program from 4-18 his first season at Pueblo to one that competes for state titles, said it’s exciting to see a Warrior reach a milestone because it reflects well on the team.
“We've had some girls with records with rebounding, scoring, assists, we’ve had all that stuff and every time somebody does good it looks good for all of us,” Galindo said. “I mean, girls in high school sometimes have jealousy and envy and that kind of stuff, but I try to try to explain that anything that any of our players do, anything, even if I get an award, like a coach of the year award, that's good on you guys, that's not for me.
“So whatever we can do that keeps us relevant and in the news, we're on the south side of Tucson, we don't get a lot of funding, we don't get a lot of push, just in our school with girl sports,” he added. “Usually boys basketball, football gets all the push and, you know, we don't get any sponsors, fundraising is on our own, so, I think anything we do good, it puts us in the spotlight, is good for the whole team, the school, the community, like all of that.”
His daughter, Ilyssa Diamond Galindo, is fourth in the state’s all-time assists list with 743 and sixth in steals with 581. and 2016 Pueblo alumna Alicia Reyes is fourth in the state’s history with 57 points in a game. Current Warrior junior small forward Brooklyn Espinoza is tied for fourth in the all-time rebounds per game with 35.
Pueblo, which has started the season 12-4, finished fourth at the Flowing Wells Holiday Shootout after Cazares missed their last two games with what Galindo called a minor ankle injury.
He said Pueblo’s big three of Cazares, Espinoza and junior point guard Asia Clark have continued to shine his year.
“I think I need to be more of a leader and I think I have been, like, getting better at it over the years,” Cazares said. “I need to be, like, a role model for the freshmen.”
Pueblo Warriors' America Cazares (3) shoots the ball over Catalina Foothills Ally Rosas (11) during the MLK Coaches for Charity Classic at McKale Center, Jan. 20, 2025.
Cazares' relationship with Galindo goes way back, having played for his club Dizzy Squad for years before playing for AZ Supreme Hoops with other stars around the state.
“I've been coaching her since she was 7 or 8, two of her older sisters played for me,” Galindo said. “She started playing on bigger teams, the biggest circuits, but she still played with us year round.”
Galindo said it’s cool to see Cazares grow up because she and her teammates are from Pueblo’s feeder schools.
“I don't recruit kids, I just get kids that want to play so like all the kids that I've had since they were, I would say, 8 or 9,” Galindo said.
The next step for Cazares is another local move, at least remaining on the west side: she signed with Pima College to play for Pima County Sports Hall of Famer Todd Holthaus.
“He's a really, really good coach,” Cazares said. “I went to some of his practices and I really like how he coached.”
Having decided on her college in October allowed her to focus on her senior year.
“I'm so excited to go play for Coach Todd, he just made me feel comfortable and I can't wait to go work over there,” Cazares said. “But yeah, it is a weight lifted off my shoulders because I don't have to worry about the whole recruiting process and everything.”
Galindo said it was a smart move, she wants to play NCAA Division I but has some work to do. Plus, Holthaus has a long track record of sending players to four-year schools.
“She's primarily a scorer, she doesn't like to do all the dirty work, which technically she doesn't have to because we’ve got enough girls to help out, but staying home and then especially now with the new rules where JUCO doesn't count towards your eligibility,” Galindo said, “that's actually a smart move and Todd's a really good coach. A lot of his players come from Tucson and I’ve known him for how many years now, coaching.”
Pueblo's America Cazares (3) gets tangled with Salpointe's Hannah Williams (30) driving to the lane, Jan. 11, 2024.
Fast Five with America
What's your favorite basketball team? Pro or college?
For college, it's the U of A, yeah, I think they're pretty cool to watch.
What's your favorite show?
I only watch reality TV, so "Love Island."
Why do you wear No. 3?
My dad used to be No. 3 and then, I don't know, I kind of wore it since I was little, so I just stuck with it and I really like it.
What's it feel like to score 30 points, 40 points in a high school game?
What's that feel like when you're kind of just in the zone like that? Um, I honestly don't know, like, how many points I had, so I'm just, like, I'm just trying to win, and I'm just trying to help my team win. So I'm really zoned out in the game. I'm trying to win.
What's your favorite class?
My favorite class is math this year, I love math.
