Leading Pima by one point in the 2A girls basketball state championship game on Saturday, March 20, it seemed as though all that stood between Sedona Red Rock High School and a state championship was 8.1 seconds of good defense. The Scorpions got that.
Unfortunately for them, the Roughriders offense was just slightly better. Pima defeated Sedona 50-48 in overtime. But the Scorpions didn’t just lose by two points. They lost by one-tenth of a second.
Roughriders guard Aubrie Sherwood received a pass from teammate Saydee Allred, then, as time was expiring, Sherwood put up a three-point shot from close to NBA range. Her shot hit off of the backboard and went in, setting off a reaction that was the perfect personification of the late Jim McKay’s famous line, “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
After the initial shock had worn off, SRRHS coach Kirk Westervelt put the loss into perspective.
“The AIA lady who gave us the trophy said that in 30 years, she’d never seen a more exciting finish — girls or boys,” Westervelt said. “I said, ‘Don’t hang your heads down, girls. Sometimes it’s not all about winning and losing. I think our society sometimes puts too much of a premium on it. At the end of the day, they’re young kids and they gave us one hell of a ride.”
Given how close it was, it is natural to ask one question. Did Sherwood get the shot off before time expired? While dealing with tenths of seconds makes it very close — especially in real time — the shot was clean.
That said, anyone watching on the Arizona Interscholastic Live Stream could hardly be blamed for thinking it was late. Freeze frame shots on the stream showed no time on the clock as Sherwood was only just beginning her shooting motion. So, thinking the shot was late goes deeper than typical biases a fan might have. By that appearance, it was late and it wasn’t close. That stream was also almost unfathomably deceptive.
The clock on the AIA stream was roughly a full second ahead of the official clock. Gila Herald reporter Jon Johnson was recording video of the final shot from underneath the basket. Using a screenshot of the video that included not only Sherwood’s shot but also the official clock behind her, it can be seen that the ball was completely out of Sherwood’s hands with 0.1 seconds still remaining. So, the shot was not only unquestionably great — it was legitimately good.
“The Lady Scorpions may have lost a heartbreaker on a ‘shot for the ages,’ but there were no losers on the floor Saturday night,” coach Westervelt said two days after the game. “It was like David vs. Goliath going toe-to-toe with them the entire game and overtime. Unfortunately, the basketball gods smiled on Pima for the last 0.1 seconds.”
Sherwood’s buzzer- beater ended a back-and-forth game that was quite fitting of a state championship contest.
The Scorpions led throughout most of the game, going up 29-18 at halftime. But the Roughriders chipped away at that deficit and eventually went ahead in the final minutes. Sedona clawed back to tie the game and had possession with less than a minute to go. The Scorpions ran nearly all of the clock out, hoping for one final shot, which missed, sending the game into overtime.
Pima took an early lead in overtime and led by three late. But a layup from junior forward Stephanie Medel cut the deficit to one. Then, sophomore guard Helen Westervelt made a spectacular shot despite being well-defended and off balance to give Sedona the lead with 8.1 seconds left.
“We played really hard overall,” Helen said. “It was just a freak accident. You never know what could happen at the end. But I’m really proud of this team.”
“It was a really good matchup,” SRRHS freshman center Rachel Roderick added. “It could have gone either way — we could have won, they could have won. Their girls were very athletic.”
Westervelt was the leading scorer for the game, scoring 15 points. Junior guard Nyah Valdez added 14, 12 of which came on a quartet of three-point shots. Medel had 12 points and was the top scorer for Sedona in the first half, scoring 10 of her points before halftime. She also secured 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Roderick sustained an ankle injury in the first quarter but still played 33 of the game’s 36 minutes. She scored five points and added 11 boards.
The Scorpions earned their spot in the state championship on Friday, March 19, with a 44-32 win over 2A Central Region rival Valley Lutheran. Falling behind 11-4 after the first quarter, the Scorpions dominated from there.
Westervelt scored 13 points in the semifinal, Valdez had 10, Roderick had eight, Medel had seven and sophomore point guard Annabelle Cook had six. Flames guard and 2A Central region MVP Naomi Hernandez had a big game, scoring 21 points. But Sedona effectively shut down the rest of the Valley Lutheran team. The Scorpions beat the Flames three times on the season — the only losses that Valley Lutheran had.
The loss to Pima was Sedona’s first and only defeat of the season. The Scorpions finished the season at 17-1.
Additionally, all five starters received All-Region honors. Valdez, Medel and Cook were all First-Team All 2A Central Region while Westervelt and Roderick were both Second-Team All Region. Medel was also named the Region’s Defensive Player of the Year. Kirk Westervelt was named the 2A Central Coach of the Year.
“The season was really good. We only lost one game and that’s awesome. We beat some hard teams like Valley Lutheran — three times — and Glendale Prep. I’m super proud of everybody,” Helen said.
And while the day didn’t end how anyone on the Scorpions would have liked, it started in a great way. When the team bus left the SRRHS parking lot in the morning, it was given a police and fire escort out of town. Additionally, Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarty was on hand to send the team off and offer her support on behalf of Sedona.
Taking an early look ahead to 2022, it’s quite possible that the Scorpions and Roughriders will meet again, as both teams are losing only one player. In Sedona’s case, all five starters are set to return, with Westervelt and Cook having two more seasons in the program and Roderick having three before graduation.
“The stats show us losing in rebounding [44-40], steals [10-8], assists [12-9] and blocks [4-0] — we only beat them in turnovers [19-14],” coach Westervelt said. “That’s not a great recipe for winning a championship game but it took an NBA-range bank shot buzzer-beater with 0.1 seconds to beat us in overtime. I feel sorry for the girls but am overall happy with the program. We showed the state that Sedona basketball is back and a force to be reckoned with.”
“I told the girls afterwards in the locker room that win or lose, the sun still rises in the morning and to keep your heads up,” the coach added. “This will fuel our offseason program in a positive way.”
A full photo gallery of the 2A state championship game between Pima and Sedona Red Rock can be found here.
