Greg Hansen: Long bus rides, tense moments, happy Aztecs — spending a day with Pima women's hoops

Another of the longest days in college basketball begins mid-morning Wednesday for Pima Community College women’s basketball coach Todd Holthaus and ends a few ticks before midnight.

He is the last man off the bus at the dark and chilly PCC campus.

“Sleep?’’ he says with a laugh. “What’s that?’’

Wednesday’s itinerary was dizzying: scouting and game-planning in the morning; a team meeting at 1:30; game-day practice at 2; on the bus to South Mountain Community College at 3:30; two hours in the near-empty bleachers watching the PCC men’s team beat South Mountain 62-61; two more hours completing the sweep, 71-60 over the SMCC women’s team; a much-anticipated stop at Chipotle for a postgame dinner; and the long ride home to Tucson.

Holthaus has won 493 games in his coaching career at Flowing Wells High School and across 15 seasons at Pima, a period in which he probably leads NJCAA women’s basketball coaches in one thankless category: miles spent on a bus.

Already this season Holthaus’ team has made the midnight drive to Tucson from games at ACCAC rival schools in Thatcher (twice), Phoenix (six times), Douglas, Coolidge and Prescott. Next week his Aztecs will make their longest late-night journey, to Arizona Western College in Yuma, followed a few days later by a seventh trip to Phoenix.

“We don’t waste a lot of time,’’ says PCC assistant coach Jim Rosborough, nodding to Holthaus during Wednesday’s return trip to Tucson. A few minutes after 11, Holthaus was assembling a scouting report from his iPhone for Saturday’s game against PCC’s game-of-the-year-type rival, Mesa Community College.

Assistant coach Pete Fajardo, who had driven to Phoenix to evaluate high school players on Tuesday, informed Holthaus he would again be driving to Phoenix for a recruiting trip Friday.

“Can’t let up,’’ says Fajardo. former head coach at Sahuaro and Catalina Foothills high schools.

No wonder the Aztecs keep on winning.

To his credit, Holthaus creates time to help his wife, Jennifer, raise their four children — yet remains one of the most prominent coaches in NJCAA women’s basketball. He has made it about winning but also about enjoying the ride, not about the hours necessary to become a consistent Top 25 team, one that has finished No. 2, No. 3 (twice) and No. 5 (twice) at the NJCAA finals.

During Wednesday’s victory at South Mountain, Holthaus remained poised — he never raised his voice during any of the game’s many timeouts or the halftime summit — even as South Mountain uncomfortably closed the gap to five, 52-47, early in the fourth quarter.

“Don’t overthink it,’’ Holthaus explained in the timeout huddle. “We’ve got 10 more minutes of opportunity.”

Wednesday’s victory was anything but stress-free. In the first quarter, the club’s second-leading scorer, Matehya Aberle, a sophomore from Holbrook, injured her ankle in a scrum while chasing a loose ball.

She began to cry as PCC trainer April Jessee rushed to provide comfort.

“Oh geez,’’ said Holthaus, one of the few times he raised his voice all night.

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As Aberle was helped to a trainer’s table behind the Pima bench, her brother walked from the bleachers to offer moral support. Even though the game was touch-and-go, Holthaus kept glancing behind the bench to check on Aberle’s well-being.

At halftime, with Pima leading 40-30, Jessee had Aberle’s ankle wrapped in ice and had given her a pair of crutches. Holthaus helped assist Aberle’s slow walk to the dressing room.

When Aberle produced a smile, her teammates glowed.

“We love you,’’ said standout sophomore point guard Angel Addleman of Palo Verde High School. “We’ll pray for you.’’

With help from Fajardo and Rosborough, Holthaus has been able to assemble championship-level rosters, year after year, without following the path of ACCAC powerhouses Eastern Arizona, Cochise College and Western Arizona, whose rosters are jammed with international players and those from all over America.

The seven leading scorers on this year’s PCC team are from Rio Rico, Holbrook, Tucson, Nogales, Mesa, Page and Gilbert. None of Pima’s players get room-and-board scholarships as those from ACCAC Division I schools EAC, AWC and Cochise do. Many Aztecs have part-time jobs.

“Our leading scorer, Luisa Chavez, has two jobs,’’ says Rosborough, who helped coach Iowa and Arizona to four Final Fours from 1980-2001. “She works at the Sporting Chance basketball rec facility and at a diner in Rio Rico. I don’t know how she does it. She’s a pleasure to coach.’’

In the locker room a few minutes after the Aztecs improved their record to 19-5, Holthaus was neither a nitpicker nor a coach dwelling on a rough fourth quarter.

“I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss anytime,’’ he told his club. “Besides, I’ve got good news: We had two wins tonight.’’

Two wins?

Holthaus motioned to the team’s only foreign player, 6-3 freshman Mariam Traore of Bamako, Mali, whom he recruited a year ago off the AZ Compass Prep team in Phoenix.

“Miss Mariam got her green card today,’’ Holthaus said enthusiastically. “This is huge. It was her third attempt to get her green card. Now she gets to stay with us.’’

The Aztec players squeezed into a small locker room roared their approval.

The midnight ride to Tucson would be a happy one.

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