Valley Vista wins fourth straight Class 6A crown
Olivia Arvallo picked up the ball in her own backcourt and took off. With the shot clock off and the score locked at 46, conventional wisdom would have called for Valley Vista’s star senior point guard to slow the game down. Play it safe, hold for the last shot. But Arvallo had no use for conventional wisdom.
Instead, she tore into the frontcourt, looked off a few passing options and went alone.
“I knew that we were gonna have to win the game with the amount of time left,” Arvallo said. “I didn't want to go into overtime.”
Throughout the game, Valley Vista had played patient offense, swinging the ball around. Because of that, they expected that Dobson wouldn’t have a helpside defender watching Arvallo.
That scouting paid off. Arvallo went right at Dobson junior Isabella Jensen, stepped into the paint and scooped an off-balance layup low off the glass. For a second or two, it rolled around the rim, unwilling to drop. Then, finally it did, sending Valley Vista to a fourthconsecutive 6A title and sixth in seven years with a 48-46 win over Dobson.
“That, I thought, was a phenomenal read,” Valley Vista coach Brooklynn Hinkens said. “Olivia, I couldn't have asked for somebody else to have the ball in their hands.”
Valley Vista’s reliance on Arvallo was compounded by foul trouble. In the final minute, two critical starters, Jocelyn Chavez and Hannah Young, fouled out. That meant the Monsoon needed Arvallo to step up, but it also created a need to finish the job in regulation, especially with Arvallo also sitting on four fouls.
“I knew that we were gonna have to win the game with the amount of time left,” Arvallo said. “I didn't want to go into overtime.”
That this was even a close game in the first place, though, was a testament to Dobson’s resolve. Valley Vista threatened to pull away in the third quarter, working its lead to six. But Dobson refused to go away and, with a three-point play to open the fourth quarter, worked its way back to a 33-33 tie.
Valley Vista quickly re-established the lead with consecutive threes from Chavez and Arvallo, but with 3:36 to play, the game swung on its head. That’s when Valley Vista junior Emma Dasovich was whistled for a common foul and then given a technical for her animated response. Dobson’s Ahdiyah Chee knocked down all four free throws, setting up a thrilling finish.
The teams went back and forth from there, with Aaliyah Garcia coming off a screen to hit a huge three for Dobson just before the one-minute mark. That brought the Mustangs within one, which turned into a tie when Garcia hit the first of two free throws with 21.6 to play.
Her second, though, went in and out, falling to Dasovitch, who dutifully handed it off to Arvallo.
From there, the rest of the proceedings will live in Valley Vista’s minds forever, culminating a season that never looked likely to reach this point. With their top three scorers from a year ago gone, the Monsoon started 2-5. Their longtime head coach, Rachel Matakas, stepped down in January due to health issues, handing the reigns over to Hinkens.
This, it seemed, was a quintessential rebuilding year.
Instead, on Saturday inside Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum, there was Hinkens, standing atop a ladder and swinging the state championship net in her right hand. And there, when she climbed down from that ladder, was Matakas, holding her own piece of the net, ready to share a hard-earned hug.
“Without Matakas, I wouldn't be the coach I am today,” Hinkens said. “These players wouldn't be the players they are today. So it's a we mentality. We did it.”