Warriors show plenty of grit despite loss to Valley Christian

The Warriors fell 79-28.

For the first half of the game, the Trojans posted 49 points to the Warriors 15 and the game looked headed for an easy training drill but the Warriors had other ideas.

Valley Christian's Jacqui Lagatta had the hot hand for the night, posting 19 points that included six three-point buckets. Ellie Phillips was also outstanding as she showed tremendous agility, speed and accuracy and scored a handy 19 points that included three three-point shots.

Despite the dominance of the Valley Christian offense, all of the ALA-Ironwood players made the Valley Christian players earn every bucket and were extremely competitive and physical in the rebound contests under the rim.

Leading by example was point guard Cierra Willis who was clearly the best player for the Warriors' team. She shot for 16 points and was the go-to player when it came to offense. Willis was ably assisted by Maleah Tucker whose presence on defense and offense helped inspire her team to work harder for the ball.

Special mention must also go out to Jasmine Kraus who shot five points and she also contributed in pressuring the Trojans.

The best example of the spirit of the Warriors team occurred when the team was way behind on the scoreboard during the third quarter. An offensive passage of play saw the Trojans looking to capitalize in a crowded area, ALA-Ironwood's Madi Shupe harassed and pressured the Valley Christian offense and was able to wrestle the ball away and get it down field to Willis who shot a superb three-point shot.

Unfortunately ALA-Ironwood was unable to sustain that pressure, but it was a great example of the girls not dropping their heads despite the deficit on the board.

Warriors coach Rose Peterson told PinalCentral after the game that she was thrilled with her team’s effort despite the margin of defeat.

“I saw some really positive things from my team from the last game to this game and I like playing tough teams because it really shows your weaknesses and what you need to work on and focus on in practice,” said Peterson who added she was impressed in how her girls kept playing out the game.

“That was one thing we were preaching at halftime was the score should not reflect how you play," she added. "You play till the end and you play hard. No matter what the deficit, there's no 40-point shot, just go out there and play every play that you can.”

Peterson was full of praise of the game played by Willis who was top scored for her team.

“Yeah, she's a freshman and she's been a nice addition to our program," Peterson said. "We're trying to give her the support that she needs to elevate and then her to elevate others players,” said Peterson.

Peterson said the direction she wants the ALA-Ironwood basketball team to head towards is in creating a successful team unit.

“We're trying to rebuild every year. I'm having to rebuild a new team after new team. I lost a really good player who averaged 34 points last year, so I'm trying to focus on my players working with each other and feeding each other more instead of being a one player focus team.”