Canyon View scraps past Sunrise Mountain to semifinals

For two seasons Sunrise Mountain and Canyon View were destined to match up in the 5A conference championship. 

However, Saturday night provided a new wrinkle in the fourth chapter of this Westside rivalry as the teams met both in Waddell in the quarterfinals for the first time.

Canyon VIew claimed a 49-47 victory to even the series at 2-2 and, more importantly, keep its bid for a repeat 5A title alive. 

“I think that we just keep telling our girls that they're made for this, 
They were built for this moment. They’ve been through it since freshman year, they don't know anything different, when they get into these games, they all decide that we are not gonna lose,” said Jaguar Coach Desirae Carranza. 

From the start of the contest, the chippiness was at a fever pitch including on the first possession of a game where an errant swing from a Sunrise Mountain player landed on junior guard Aaliyah Rogers. Both teams were quickly separated.

That physicality continued throughout the quarter as both teams put a hand into faces and disrupted shots. Although Rogers had three steals in the first quarter it was the Mustangs that imposed their will.

Sunrise Mountain jumped out to a 14-9 lead after the first quarter which included a 13-3 advantage in rebounds for the Mustangs.  All six players that played had at least one. 

“I think that we weren't crashing boards early on, our wings weren't in there, crashing and attacking, so I think as soon as they started getting in there, things started falling our way,” said Carranza.

Immediately to start the second quarter, the Jaguars switched to their full court press defense once senior Katelyn Jewell subbed into action.

Utilizing a much more athletic unit, the Mustangs attempted to take advantage of the lack of height and attack Jaila Flowers, but her disciplined defense play only generated more misses for Sunrise Mountain.

It was a far cry from their regular season matchup, a 56-43 Mustangs win in Peoria Jan. 8. 

“We've been going over how they’d attack in practice every day, so I give all props to my coaches and I think because of that prep it helped us win tonight,” said Flowers. 

With the defense stepping up, the question mark early in the contest as had been the case all season was Canyon View's three point shooting. Multiple players missed open looks early in the contest, but in the second quarter turned a corner.

Junior Azalee Tellez, who replaced Keira Lewis in the starting lineup after Lewis suffered a torn ACL, and Bernadette Carranza provided a spark after a stretch from Rogers and Flowers where shots weren’t falling.

Carranza who knocked down two threes with a hand in her face before Tellez knocked in a catch and shoot three-point attempt. 

“Last time we played them, we were like 2-30 or something and we shot ourselves out of the game, we wanted to get inside and we knew it was going to open up the perimeter, and that's what happened and our shooters got to get some shots up,” said Carranza.

The second half was where the championship experience of the Jaguars shined. 

Rogers finished with a triple-double with points, rebounds, and steals. It was her four third quarter steals that turned the tide and gave Canyon View a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. 

“I had to play hard because there's a lot of pressure on us, you know, everyone wants to beat us, so us playing hard goes back to how we practice and lets us play hard,” said Rogers. 

With Rogers in a zone, her 1-2 game with Flowers took over the game. Sunrise Mountain no matter the matchup couldn’t stop both at the same time.

The duo combined for 17 of the final 20 Jaguar points.

“Aaliyah is like a sister, I love her with all my heart, we’ve  been playing since we were in seventh grade, so I think that chemistry is in motion, I think if I'm not scoring then Aaliyah is scoring, if I don't have 20 then Aaliyah has 20, so I think we pick up for each other a lot,” said Flowers.

With the victory, #3 Canyon View (22-6) advances to face the No. 2 seed Catalina Foothills (24-6) in Tucson at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. 

Unlike their first two runs to the state championship game however, the Jaguars will be forced to play a road playoff game.

The  schools have only faced off one time. In 2023 on their first run to Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Canyon View defeated Catalina Foothills in the semifinals before losing in the championship.