Single-elimination tournaments don’t care if you’re the better team. One off-day, one small mistake can send you home.

Sedona learned that lesson Saturday at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Despite outplaying their opponent for a majority of the Arizona Interscholastic Association 2A State Championship Finals, the simple errors added up and Sedona was forced to go first in the trophy ceremony.

The Scorpions lost the state championship game by two points to Pima, 38-36, for the second-straight season. As a consequence, they held their runner-up hardware with tears of agony while Pima raised theirs with tears of triumph.

But even as the clock hit zero and Sedona’s chance — the last chance for the three seniors — to call themselves champions fell short, the girls acted as they had on the court for all 26 games this season: selfless and unified. They cried together. They consoled each other.

Down two with 11 seconds left, Sedona sophomore center Rachel Roderick grabbed a rebound after a Pima free-throw attempt bounced off the rim. Roderick ran down the length of the court and was met at the top of the key by Pima senior guard Saydee Allred, the 2A East Region Player of the Year.

Roderick lost control of the ball as Allred reached in, and Pima junior center Ashlynn Chlarson snatched it up. Pima shoved the ball up the court and ran out the final few ticks of the clock to earn their second-consecutive state title.

Sedona head coach Kirk Westervelt kept his final time-out in his back pocket throughout those long 11 seconds because he was simply doing what he had done all season — trusting his team. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I had my [2A Central Region] Player of the Year with the ball and she can go coast-to-coast,” he said. “It’s a two-point game, you got player of the year going against player of the year, what more could you ask for … To me there were no regrets.”

Senior Hannah Lanchbury logged just four minutes in the game. But while her high school basketball career ended with two championship appearances and zero rings to show for it, she took the immediate moments after the game not to complain about playing time or sulk in the heartbreak of loss, but instead hug a distraught Roderick and comfort the young Sedona star who will have two more chances at a state title and, in all likelihood, a collegiate basketball career to follow.

“Hannah, for her to go out there and console [Roderick], that shows our character as a team,” Westervelt said. “I was happy with that right there. You win with class, you lose with class and you regroup.”

That’s the true value of the 2021-2022 Scorpions, according to Westervelt. The hardwood glory is secondary to the development of people as selfless in life as they are on the basketball court.

While the 2A state championship game was just that — a game — Westervelt regards it as a life lesson, as he always does. It felt like the world is crashing down on these young women at the moment, but they’ll look back with pride in the future.

“I told our girls, unfortunately you ran into a dynasty,” Westervelt said. “Unfortunately you were on the other side but that doesn’t take anything away from you. You just ran into a damn good team.”

32 minutes of chaos

The first quarter of this state-championship sequel set the table for the madness to come. Sedona outscored Pima 9-2 in the opening eight minutes, using its trademark defense to force poor shots for the Roughriders. Pima was a jaw-dropping 0-for-17 shooting from the field in the opening quarter, gaining their two points on free throws. But while the Scorpions mounted a seven-point lead, their ultimately fatal wounds were dished out in the first quarter. Junior guard Helen Westervelt was called for two fouls in the quarter, and three other Scorpions’ starters picked up personal fouls.

In the first minute of the second quarter, Helen Westervelt picked up her third. Two fouls away from ejection with just one-fourth of the game complete, Kirk Westervelt’s hand was forced, and he pulled his daughter, Sedona’s main ball-handler and inbounder, out of the game.

The Roughriders opened that second quarter on a 13-0 run, taking a 15-9 lead.

The Scorpions made up ground late in the first half but the game couldn’t be more different at the half than it was after the first. Both offenses were awake, and the Roughriders led 22-18 at halftime.

After what Kirk Westervelt called a “heck of a halftime speech,” a fired-up Sedona team came out blazing in the third. They shot 55% as a team in the quarter while holding Pima to 14%. The Scorpions stayed out of foul trouble and went into the final quarter of the season with a five-point lead.

But the mistakes simply added up. Whether it was defensive miscues allowing uncontested layups, inbounding errors, missed shots inside the paint or errant passes, the final moments of the game weren’t kind to Sedona.

After a steal from senior wing Stephanie Medel led to an open layup that put the Scorpions up three with three minutes and 45 seconds left, the Roughriders strung together a run. Sedona didn’t score again.

Pima played solid defense, forcing a couple of misses from Sedona, and then it was simply over. Given a role reversal from a year ago, when Pima took the ball down a point in overtime with just seconds left and turned that into a state title, Sedona couldn’t cast the same magic.

While several players blamed themselves for the loss, the truth was that no single mistake cost the Scorpions. Pima was opportunistic.

The Roughriders had 24 offensive rebounds to Sedona’s seven. They played excellent defense without fouling, which Kirk Westervelt says was the ultimate difference.

“[Pima] shot 17 free throws,” he said. “We shot two. You can’t win like that … I thought speed could possibly beat them but they have strength and size.”

Heads held high

The post-game scene showed the ultimate duality of sport. On one side — elation. On the other — anguish. But the Scorpions in two-straight years showed the resiliency needed of a championship program, win or lose. They finish the season with an overall record of 24-2, with the other loss coming against 4A State runner-up Flagstaff.

“Sometimes reality can be harsh. But you learn from it and there’s no shame in it,” Westervelt said. “It shows that you care. Heck, I cried when I hugged every girl in the locker room. In life you have to show your emotions and crying is not an indictment of weakness. It’s a power that you have when you can show emotions.”

While emotions ran high and tears were flowing in the post-game locker room, Westervelt set the record straight. The pain the Scorpions were feeling was okay. The three seniors — Medel, Lanchbury and Nyah Valdez — spent their emotional send-offs helping the younger players handle the loss. And though they won’t be there to reap the benefits, Westervelt says those three young women will have an irreplaceable difference on their peers.

“[The seniors] are very good basketball players but better people,” he said. “That’s all you can ask as a coach. Sad to see them go but one thing in life is that you move on. We’ll be back next year.”