Lady Mats come apart in 4th, lose to Pima
Aztecs rally from down 13 late, win in overtime
The Arizona Western women’s basketball team let a golden opportunity to beat one of the better teams in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference slip away Wednesday night at The House.
Up 13 with just over five minutes remaining in regulation, the Matadors were on the verge of avenging
Pima: 15-6 overall, 9-5 conf. AWC: 12-10 overall, 7-7 conf.
an earlier loss to Pima and moving to two games above .500 in conference. But then everything fell apart.
The Aztecs finished the second half on a tear, and then carried that momentum into overtime to defeat the Matadors 78-71.
Pima (15-6 overall, 9-5 ACCAC) scored 42 points in the game’s first 35 minutes, and then 36 in the final 10.
“It’s all about consistency,” AWC coach Patrick Cunningham said. “You’ve got to be consistent for 40 minutes; you’ve got to do fundamental things for the entire game.”
Specifically, Cunningham referenced taking care of the ball.
The Matadors (12-10, 7-7) committed 24 turnovers on the night, including five in the final five minutes of regulation and four in the first 3:30 of overtime.
“When you turn the ball over it gives them layup opportunities,” Cunningham said. “They got a few too many turnovers that turned into points. We try to take away easy baskets, and when you turn the ball over, it’s difficult to prevent the easy basket.”
AWC led 55-42 with 5:08 remaining and 58-48 with 3:28 to go, but didn’t score again until a Harria Mendoza free throw made it 5956 AWC with 1:04 left. The Aztecs then scored on their next two possessions to take their first lead since it was 10-9 in the first quarter.
The lead change wasn’t without controversy. With a little over 20 seconds to play, Pima’s Fama Thiam missed a baseline runner and AWC’s Buse Utku grabbed the rebound, but was whistled for being out of bounds, giving the ball back to Pima.
Replays showed that Utku had reestablished herself inbounds before touching the ball. Pima wound up scoring off the ensuing inbound play, with Marlena Arroyo-Plata’s reverse layup giving the Aztecs a 60-59 lead.
“We had a few things not go our way and we weren’t able to survive that,” Cunningham said.
After an AWC miss and