Lady T-Birds dispose of South Mountain
Matt Schaeffer
The Mesa Lady Thunderbirds tipped of March 1 against the South Mountain Cougars in the semi-finals of the regional playoffs. Play got off to a slow start with a score of just 5-3 five minutes into the game. Being called for two travels and a charge early on, South Mountain didn’t seem to have their heads in the game.
Mesa Guard Christina Buescher got the scoring going with a three pointer at the 14:51 mark to put Mesa up 8-3. Forward Alli Gloyd threw down a monster block a minute later but had it negated by a foul on Jade Wilson. Wilson redeemed herself a few possessions later with a block of her own.
The Cougars hung with the Thunderbirds through the first half bringing it within one point to make it 16-15 with 7:41 left. Mesa held the lead at half 25-20.
South Mountain’s Lia Kioa and Simone Holmes, who came in as the second and fifth leading scorers in the conference respectively, were constantly hassled by Mesa’s defense in the first half, going a combined three for 17, including three turnovers by Holmes.
Mesa’s Isidora Perisic showed a lot of hustle grabbing six rebounds in the first half and wasn’t afraid to put her head down and take it to the hole.
Mesa kept the good play up after half, pulling out to a 31-23 lead and extending it to 42-31 throughout the next few minutes.
South Mountain’s Holmes would not let her poor first half keep her down, going for 24 points in the second half, giving her 31 total. Kioa did not turn things around, however, ending up going one for 11 from the field for the night. Up 12 with under a minute to play, a scary moment happened as Gloyd took a shot to the face that doubled her over in pain. Gloyd was fortunate enough to walk the pain off but didn’t seem settled, air balling the first free throw.
Mesa held on to win 68-59. Mesa head coach Kori Stephenson was elated after the game saying that she felt great about her team’s play and the she didn’t care who she faced in the next game.
Buescher led Mesa with 18 point and Wilson contributed a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Ball handling, an issue the Thunderbirds have struggled with this season, continued to plague the team. Mesa committed 20 turnovers compared to just nine by South Mountain.
