Tombstone’s girls kicked off the basketball postseason Monday night by avenging a 20-point loss to The Gregory School and moving a step closer to securing a state tournament berth.
The sixth-seeded Yellow Jackets beat the No. 3 Hawks 50-41 in the first round of the Division V Section, II tournament at Cienega. Tombstone (10-11) came into the game ranked No. 24 and so was squarely on the bubble for the 24-team Division V state tournament.
“This win should bump us up enough that we would make the top 24,” said Tombstone coach Robert Bristow. “That’s kind of what I’m thinking but it would be nice to just win the thing and make it easy on everybody.”
Section tournaments continue though Saturday night’s championship games; the Southern Arizona host sites are Amphitheater, Benson, Cienega, Desert View and Mountain View. A complete schedule can be found here.
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The Yellow Jackets play second-seeded Patagonia Union in the semifinals at Cienega on Thursday at Cienega at 5:15 p.m. Fourth-seeded Bowie/San Simon beat No.5 seed Elfrida Valley Union 33-31 in the other first-round game. The Cougars face top seeded St. David on Thursday at 7 p.m. also at Cienega.
Tombstone held The Gregory School to nine points in the first and third quarters and scored 17 in the fourth quarter to pull away. Sophomore Ashton Dotson led Tombstone with 27 points.
“It’s just really exciting,” Dotson said. “It felt really good to beat them.”
The Gregory School (13-9) entered the game ranked 15th and now must wait to hear about its postseason fate. Junior forward Taylor Thompson led all scores with 34 points, with 17 free throws made. She had 46 points in the Hawks’ 58-38 win at Tombstone on January 13.
“We had a little better game plan this time,” Bristow said. “We didn’t have much choice but to change up our defense and the girls executed our game plan outstanding.”
