Lady T-Birds get even with Bears on home court

Rene Gomez

The NJCAA No. 7 ranked Lady T-Birds picked up their seventh straight win on Jan. 25 against the Phoenix College Bears 69-53 at Theo J. Heap Gymnasium.

Mesa also tied up the regular season series versus Phoenix, and pushed their overall record to 16-3 (12-2 in conference).

Three Lady T-Birds scored in double figures led by sophomore guard Mariah Willadsen’s 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field.

Sophomores Madi Austin and Peace Amukamara had 16 and 15 points respectively, and Amukamara nearly finished with a triple-double needing one more rebound and one more assist to complete it.

The Mesa defense held the Bears to 20 of 63 shooting (31.7 percent) from the field and 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) from three point range.

Phoenix guard Daesha Jackson was held scoreless for the entire afternoon.

In the previous game, Jackson scored 20 points to lead Phoenix to a 56-52 win, but the Lady T-Birds were not going to let that happen again on their home court.

“We hated losing that game,” sophomore guard Leslie Tademy said, “I actually wanted to guard her at first; I just wanted to lock her down and she ended up having zero points.”

Austin, Willadsen, Amukamara, and freshman guard Lacey Viselli combined for 26 points in the half.

Amukamara even has six assists in the half as she found many teammates in good position for scoring opportunities.

Mesa ended the half with a 32-24 lead and looked focused.

“We just focused on what we needed to do which was rebounding because they outrebounded us last time, and hustling,” freshman guard Erica Vasquez said.

The second half had an injury scare at 17:29 when Viselli went down during a fast break play clutching her ankle. 

The injury should not keep Viselli out long term as her status was specified as day-to-day.

Willadsen had a great second half scoring 11 points and led Mesa in the half followed by Austin’s nine points and Amukamara’s eight points.

The bench filled in nicely as sophomore guard Darla Woody, freshman forwards Didi Moloi and Megan Gillespie, and Vasquez combined for nine points in the second half.

Mesa built a 60-45 lead with 3:31 left and never looked back as they outscored the Bears 37-29 in the second half.

The Lady T-Birds had a total of 20 assists, and showed their depth with so many players finding shots all afternoon.

Mesa had advantages in points in the paint scoring 32 to Phoenix’s 16, and outscored Phoenix 16-2 in fast break points.

“We just had to be more aggressive, box out, and just get the W,” Vasquez said.

Amukamara earned ACCAC player of the week honors which was announced Jan. 28.

Mesa’s next home game at Theo J. Heap Gymnasium is on Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m. versus Central Arizona College.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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