It’s a good thing when your opponent uses two early timeouts. It’s really good when early in the second period your opponent’s coaching staff is all sitting. Silently. Arms crossed.
So it was with Chandler Seton Catholic’s girls basketball opponent Tuesday night Sahuarita. The host Sentinels left the Mustangs in the dust with a 20-0 run midway through the first period and early in the second and posted an easy 71-39 win in the first round of the 4A Division II state tournament.
Seton advances to Friday’s quarterfinals where they will host No. 7 seed Flagstaff High.
Seton sophomore post Theresa Wirth scored 14 points in the first half and senior Katie Doerer added 12 in the first 16 minutes as the Sentinels built a 41-13 by halftime. Seton (26-3) led 8-7 about four minutes into the game before running away and hiding from their southern visitors.
“Our goal was to go out and stay focused and get the lead,” Seton coach Karen Self said.
With ASU womens basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne looking on, Wirth put in a solid night’s work. Wirth connected on 6-of-8 shots from the floor, patrolled the defensive glass and helped clog the middle on defense. Doerer was equally effective hitting 4-of-7 shots from the field. Seton forced 16 turnovers in the first half, 12 in the opening period.
“We’ve been playing some of our best basketball lately,” Self said. “We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. We didn’t play as well as we can play tonight, but it was definitely good enough.”
Sahuarita (14-14) was led in scoring by Ivana Vidal, who entered the game averaging 15.5 points a game. Vidal scored 17, but just three in the first half.
