Doubt is oftentimes the driving force behind greatness.

Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan notoriously fed off it during his six title runs in the NBA. Even seven championships later, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady still laments over being the 199th player selected in the 2000 NFL Draft.

Sometimes the best players and teams need the doubt — need the disrespect — to reach that peak they’re all endlessly pursuing.

The Sedona Red Rock High School girls basketball squad doesn’t even try to hide it. Even less than a year since the well-documented state-title game which ended with shock, the Scorpions have found the seed of doubt that has sprouted this team into the 2A juggernaut it’s become two-thirds through the 2021-2022 season.

“We proved ourselves last year,” said senior guard Hannah Lanchbury, a member of the 2020-2021 2A state runner-up team. “I think we prove ourselves every single game. Every single scoreboard. And people still doubt our ability every game.”

Lanchbury’s claim isn’t untenable. 16 games into the season, which includes five games at the Pepsi Holiday Invitational that don’t factor into the Arizona Interscholastic Association rankings, the Scorpions are running teams out of gyms – even more so than they did a year ago. They’re 15-1, with the lone loss coming in at that tournament against Flagstaff High School, a state-championship contender at the big school 4A level.

The perfect 11-0 record in regular season play make Sedona one of four teams in the AIA 2A Conference with an unblemished record. The official AIA rankings, which determines seedings at February’s State Championships, has the Scorpions the lowest ranked of those four squads. The No. 4 ranking doesn’t sit well with head coach Kirk Westervelt’s squad.

“We can’t really do anything about that,” said senior wing Stephanie Medel after a team practice Wednesday. “Yeah, the rankings are really important right now. I think we deserve to be second right now because we’ve been working so hard for that position. So us getting bumped down to fourth is kind of tough and hard for us to look at. But we’re still going to go at it and still go for that second spot.”

Medel is right. The Scorpions can’t do anything about it, because they’ve done all they can. In those 11 regular season games which count for the rankings, Sedona’s average margin of victory is nearly 42 and a half points. Just one of those contests were even competitive in the fourth quarter, a Jan. 15 46-41 win over No. 10 Scottsdale Christian. The Scorpion’s second-closest win was a 21-point romp over Tuba City on Dec. 14.

The AIA’s rankings are based on a computer algorithm, placing an emphasis on strength of schedule combined with wins to form a ranking. The algorithm does not account for margin of victory, according to AZPreps365, which publishes the rankings.

So there isn’t a group of people for the Scorpions to prove themselves to or doubt. The only way for the Scorpions to move up is for them to simply keep winning, and they know that.

“It takes step-by-step in order to get to that position that we were,” Medel said. “I think doing it one game at a time is going to help us get to the position that we’re supposed to be in.”

The “one game at a time” approach is on the mind of each of these players. Looking past an opponent could lead to disaster. While a 2A Central region championship
and bye into the State Championships is a virtual certainty at this point, the Scorpions remain steadfast and locked into their identity as a team.

“Our identity has always been defense,” said junior guard Leah Pedersen. “Yes, our shots are incredible and I can see as the season goes on we’re getting so much better with our shots. But I still think defense is our number one thing. Most of our points are from us pressing and us getting steals or interceptions.”

Sedona’s offense is predicated on elite defense. The Scorpions play a deep press a majority of the time, meaning they guard players with intensity from one end of the court to the other. They don’t allow teams to get free passes off of the inbounds or let them cross half court before they start guarding. The Scorpions crank the intensity to 11 for the entire time their opponent possesses the basketball.

The Scorpions style of play is well-known throughout the state’s basketball circles. This style is what Sedona is known for. But it doesn’t limit them. As Pedersen alludes, the Scorpions have been shooting at an exceptional level as of late. Their fastbreak game off of opponent turnovers now have an added dimension, the Scorpions could go to the lane for an easy layup, but they could also dish the ball outside for an open three.

“All five of the starters each have our own skills,” Medel said. “Once we put those skills together we just dominate on the court. If we all play our own part we work well as a team.”

Like a puzzle, Sedona’s starting five fits together with their own unique shapes.

Medel is the defensive anchor, who creates turnovers and blocks shots with her long wingspan and relentless effort, creating offense through those patented Sedona fast-breaks.

Junior point guard Helen Westervelt is the floor general. As the daughter of head coach Kirk Westervelt, she’s almost a mini-coach on the court, directing traffic and using her mind to create shots for others.

Junior shooting guard Annabelle Cook is the spark plug. Her endless amounts of energy on defense create problems for opposing guards and her speed leads to countless fast-break layups, and she can splash in a little three-point shooting as necessary.

Senior guard Nyah Valdez is the sniper, with her off-ball movement and shooting prowess keeping defenses honest on the perimeter.

Sophomore center Rachel Roderick, standing at 6-foot-3, is a match-up nightmare for teams without size in the middle, with guard skills on both sides of the ball to create mismatches.

Pedersen and Lanchbury are jack-of-all-trade players that come off the bench to give starters a break while filling in at nearly any position. The seven players in the regular rotation are wrecking havoc on the 2A level.

“All around, like a good team, their identity isn’t rooted in one side of the court or the other,” Lanchbury said. “It’s just like any team sport its about sacrificing so others get better … Our identity is in being like a team.”

Unfortunately for their competition, the Scorpions add those tangible skills with something the eye can’t see on the court. Sedona is angry. That No. 4 next to their name is a sign of disrespect. Sedona wants to change that little number the only way it knows how, by winning basketball games.