PCC coach Holthaus not afraid of a challenge

One of the reasons Pima College women’s basketball coach Todd Holthaus has been among the leading coaches in Tucson for the last 10 years is that he isn’t afraid of a challenge. He took his (then) 15th-ranked Aztecs to Peoria, Illinois, last week to play national-level JC teams from Iowa, Michigan and Illinois, even though it required a travel schedule that would bow most coaches. The Aztecs left Phoenix on a 1 a.m., flight to St. Louis, drove three hours to Peoria, arriving at sunrise, and then played the first of three games that day at 1 p.m. And now it gets even tougher: Pima resumes ACCAC play this week against two of the top programs in the country, Arizona Western and Central Arizona.