SIERRA VISTA TOURNEY: Quiet leader Jackson guides Mountain Lion girls into semifinals

Jeanette Jackson prefers to let her game do most of the talking on the basketball court.

But there’s no doubt who Sierra Vista’s floor leader is each night.

The junior point guard scored 20 points Monday to help the Mountain Lions advance to the semifinals of their own Sierra Vista Invitational with a 51-28 win over Chaparral.

“She just brings a competitiveness,” Sierra Vista coach Lindsay Whalen said. “She’s not a real vocal person, but she has a quiet competitiveness. She’s completely capable of taking a game over.”

Jackson, who has played varsity basketball since her freshman year, is a steadying hand on the floor.

With four seniors and four juniors on a 10-player roster, the Mountain Lions can hardly be considered young. But they are unseasoned.

And they rely on the experience of Jackson and senior guard Teena Baxter to guide them.

“She brings a lot of knowledge,” Whalen said of Jackson. “A lot of our girls are very young basketball-wise.”

Baxter missed the first four games of the season as she recovered from a knee injury. Her first game was the tournament opener on Saturday.

The inexperience showed early in the season when Sierra Vista began with consecutive losses to Spanish Springs and Green Valley. Since then, the Mountain Lions have won six-straight.

“We knew we might take some lumps early because we were playing with some inexperienced guards,” Whalen said. “We knew it might be a slow start, but hopefully we’re coming around.”

Nicolette Grigsby added 13 points for Sierra Vista, which pulled away after taking a 22-13 halftime lead.

Janae Neuville had 11 points for the Cowboys.

Canyon Springs 70, Arbor View 43 — Faith Harper led four double-figure scorers with 13 points as Canyon Springs moved into the semifinals by topping the Aggies.

Tishara Walker, Shante Thomas and Kenosha Wright each added 10 points for the Pioneers.

Taylor Shields paced the Aggies with 11 points.

Durango 35, Del Sol 24 — Amanda Boucher scored 11 points, and Durango overcame a slow start to earn a spot in the semifinals.

Cherelle Hicks added nine points for the Trailblazers, who trailed 7-4 after one quarter.

Desiree Orozco scored 11 points for the Dragons.

Sierra Vista 56, Canyon Springs 51 — Jackson scored 14 of her 25 points in the third quarter, and the Mountain Lions withstood a late rally by Canyon Springs in a pool-play game.

Grigsby added 11 points for Sierra Vista, which had a 10-point fourth-quarter lead trimmed to 55-51 with less than a minute to play.
Walker paced the Pioneers with 17 points, and Wright scored 16.

Del Sol 57, Gleneagle (Canada) 25 — Del Sol sprinted to a 20-2 first-quarter lead and never looked back in a pool-play game.

Heather Romero had 11 points to lead 11 Dragons in the scoring column.

Durango 35, Chaparral 31 — Megan Tullis scored 13 points, and Hicks added 12 as the Trailblazers nipped the Cowboys in pool play.

Neuville led Chaparral with 14 points.

Sylmar (Calif.) 50, Arbor View 48 — Leticia Pelayo scored 20 points, including a tie-breaking free throw with 11 seconds left as Sylmar nipped Arbor View in pool play.

Jenna Valenzuela had 19 points and Erika Lang added 17 for the Aggies.

BOYS

High school basketball players rarely score 1,000 points in a career.

At the rate he’s going, Cimarron-Memorial’s Kevin Olekaibe might top 1,000 this season.

Olekaibe scored 90 points on Monday in the Sierra Vista Invitational, helping the Spartans to wins over Tech and Coronado.

Olekaibe had 51 points in an 83-62 pool-play victory over the Cougars, then scored 39 in less than three quarters in a 98-54 win over Tech that moved the Spartans into the semifinals.

In eight games this season, Olekaibe has scored 323 points, including two outings with 50 or more.

Brandon Washington and Rico Garrett each added 11 points in the quarterfinal win over Tech.

Michael Johnson led the Roadrunners with 20 points. Josh Sarabia scored 11 and Mike Maglich had 10 for Tech.

Coronado 68, Gleneagle (Canada) 60 — Brandon Glanz scored seven of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to help Coronado hold off the Talons and advance to the semifinals.

Austin Nelson scored 12 points and Gaven Holcomb had 10 for the Cougars.

Clark 66, Sierra Vista 63 — Steven Dancy scored 18 points as the Chargers stunned the host school to advance to the semifinals.

Alejandro Rangel scored 14 and Wayne Pittman added 11 for Clark.

Viko Noma’aea led the Mountain Lions with 28 points, and Cory Noma’aea had 11.

Arbor View 63, Del Sol 56 — Darington Banks paced a balanced attack with 15 points to help the Aggies move into the semifinals.

Maiscei Grier added 13 points and Anthony Trepagnier had 10 for Arbor View.

Jeff Coon led Del Sol with 23 points. Devontti Gilmore added 16.

Cimarron-Memorial 83, Coronado 62 — Olekaibe came off the bench to score 29 of his 51 points in the first half as Cimarron downed the Cougars in pool play.

Erik Brewer added 14 points for the Spartans.

Brandon Glanz led Coronado with 33 points, and teammate Adam Schmitt scored 12.

Arbor View 72, Gleneagle (Canada) 42 — Banks had 26 points, and the Aggies used a 20-6 burst in the second quarter to begin to pull away from Gleneagle in pool play.

Grier added 12 points for the Aggies.

Sierra Vista 64, Tech 40 — R.J. Llorens led a balanced attack with 13 points as the Mountain Lions downed Tech in pool play.

Michael Johnson paced Tech with 20 points.

Del Sol 69, Clark 58 — Gilmore scored 12 of his 19 points in the first quarter, helping the Dragons to a 24-14 lead as they cruised past the Chargers in pool play.

James Johnson added 15 points and David Day had 12 for Del Sol.

Dancy led the Chargers with 29 points. Rangel added 15.