On Aug. 19, Pima College's athletic department erected a new basketball scoreboard and, more impressively, a banner next to the scoreboard that reads:
NATIONAL
CHAMPIONS
2026
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
It wouldn't have been much of a surprise if PCC women's basketball coach Todd Holthaus was too busy to see the banner erected that day.
Since Pima won the 2026 NJCAA championship in March, finishing the season on an 18-0 run and 30-4 overall, Holthaus has been one of the busiest people in junior college basketball. Knowing he had to replace star-level players Kiley Sours-Miller (a first-team All-American) and standout guard Melicia Nelson, now at Southern Utah, Holthaus hit the recruiting road like few other coaches.
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Pima women's basketball players take shots during an afternoon practice inside Aztec gymnasium, Feb. 12.
He has signed 11 players to help replace Sours-Miller and Nelson, perhaps the most notable being Pueblo High School guard America Cazares, who broke the Arizona girls state career scoring record with 2,932 points, averaging 33.2 as a Pueblo senior.
From April through July, Holthaus also signed Hawaii power forward Ahnastaziah Wright, Wyoming guard Josie Barrett, Los Angeles guard G'Layah Salazar and Phoenix Dream City Christian standout Juli Loy.
As always, Holthaus recruited a strong core from Southern Arizona, such as Mica Mountain's Amaris Biancuzzo, who had 15 double-doubles last year, Amphi's 1,000-career-point scorer Kayla Tuakalau, Sunnyside's Janae Pritchett and Walden Grove's Angel Amarillas, among others.
The Aztecs return championship starters Reigne Waugh, Lucy Fisher and Kahlia Gonzales, meaning competition for playing time will be a battle, as always for Holthaus' perennial title-contending program. The Aztecs open the season Oct. 3 in the ACCAC Jamboree in Phoenix.
“Some days when I look at that championship banner I have to pinch myself,'“ says Holthaus. “We're still soaking it in a little bit, but we've got a lot of new faces on this team, so we've got a lot of work to do. I think by March we'll be pretty good.”
