Pima College men's, women's basketball teams advance to Elite Eight

The No. 4-seeded Aztecs improved to 33-0 heading into their quarterfinal contest against No. 5 Iowa Central College at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Pima broke the game open with an 18-0 run in the first half to erase a three-point deficit and take a 40-25 lead. The Aztecs upped the advantage to 60-39 by halftime.

Mason Hunt had a game-high 30 points, hitting 11 of 16 shots, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range.

Brock Mendoza added 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds and four blocks. Isaiah Hill notched 18 points and eight assists.

Pima shot 54.7% from the field, including 44.1% (15 of 34) from 3-point range.

Women's basketball

Pima took command of a close game in the third quarter and beat No. 13 seed Des Moines Area (Iowa) CC 71-64 in the first round of the NJCAA Division II National Tournament in Hickory, N.C., on Tuesday.

The fourth-seeded Aztecs led 32-28 at halftime and extended the lead to 56-42 by the end of the third quarter.

Kiley Sours-Miller scored the team's first nine points of the second half and finished with 26 points and nine rebounds.

Melicia Nelson had 11 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

"I just wanted to be that leader today. We came out with a little jitters, but talking with the team and staying with the game plan and putting confidence in them," Nelson said in a press release. "We were getting stops on defense; once we got stops and got rebounds, we were able to push the tempo on them, keep them on their heels and attack the lane."

The Aztecs (27-4) play No. 12 seed Union College (NJ) at 11 a.m. Thursday.