All five Pima College starters, including All-Americans Abyee Maracigan and Tia Morrison, exhausted their eligibility in 2010, a memorable season in which the Aztecs finished No. 5 in the NJCAA Division II womenโs basketball championships.
That seemed to make the upcoming season a humbling, start-over process.
Yet exactly a year later, in Peoria, Illinois, coach Todd Holthausโ Aztecs entered the NJCAA Division II Tournament ranked No. 1.
It was one of the epic rebuilding jobs in the history of Tucson sports.
Holthaus wasnโt new to winning. He had coached Flowing Wells High Schoolโs girls basketball teams to a 164-60 record and served as an assistant on UA womenโs basketball coach Joan Bonviciniโs staff. Holthaus then agreed to rebuild a long-stagnant PCC womenโs program. In his second season, Holthaus coached the Aztecs to a third-place finish in the 2009 tournament.
Word spread. Pimaโs 2008 All-American guard Jessie Ingraham had moved on to play at Utahโs Dixie State where she met Deanna Daniels, an all-conference freshman center. Daniels wasnโt happy at Dixie State and was looking to transfer.
Ingraham spoke about the positive and winning culture Holthaus established at PCC. A few months later, Daniels moved to Tucson.
โDeanna was a wrecking ball,โ Holthaus says now, 11 years later. โShe averaged 18 points and 14 rebounds.โ She became the ACCAC Player of the Year and a first-team All-American.
Pimaโs 2010-2011 team was on the launching pad.
In late December of 2010, Pima upset No. 2 Parkland College of Chicago in a Christmas tournament. Expectations grew.
Holthaus had recruited one of the most successful girls basketball players in Tucson prep history: Nadi Carey, a freshman guard who had played on both the 33-1 Flowing Wells state championship team of 2008 and the 32-1 Canyon del Oro state championship team of 2009.
Carey, sister of Arizona All-American running back KaโDeem Carey, was a winner, something of a basketball Swiss Army knife. She averaged 7.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game and was a leading defensive player.
Carey blended nicely with sophomore guard Sara Nicholson, a sub on the 2009-10 club who became an All-ACCAC choice by averaging 11 points per game. Sophomores Gaby Ayon of Rio Rico High School and Patricia Ramos of Peoria High School became steady contributors.
Pima rolled past traditional power Mesa College 61-37 in the region title game, clinching a berth in the NJCAA Division II tournament โ a 16-team event in Peoria, Illinois. It would take four victories in five days to win a national championship.
In the opener, Pima beat Genesee College of New York. Daniels had a 26-14 double-double, while Nicholson, Ramos and Ayon all scored in double figures.
A day later, Holthausโ team beat 28-1 Harcum College of Pennsylvania 74-66 to reach the semifinals, a tense game it won against Iowa Central College, 69-68, as Ayon scored with 3 seconds to play on an offensive rebound put-back.
Pima womenโs basketball coach Todd Holthaus gathers with his players for a post-practice huddle during the 2010-11 season.
โWe are where we want to be,โ said Holthaus. โWe understand the difficulty and the caliber of competition. We need 40 good minutes to become a national champion.โ
Holthaus was correct about the caliber of opposition. The Aztecs would meet New Yorkโs Monroe College in the championship game. The Lady Mustangs, whose roster was made up of New York City players, had gone 180-35 in coach Seth Goodmanโs eight seasons, winning two NJCAA championships.
Unfortunately, the Aztecs lost 78-74 to Monroe in the title game. They finished 26-7.
Holthaus and the Aztecs survived. Daniels accepted a scholarship to Grand Canyon and Carey to Eastern Washington. Nicholson earned a scholarship to Concordia. Holthaus would coach Pima College to a third-place finish in the 2016 NJCAA finals and a fifth-place season in 2019.
