Senior-packed Desert Oasis girls follow Kearn, Tso to win over Cheyenne

Laurie Evans has been waiting for this season since beginning Desert Oasis’ girls basketball program during the 2008-09 school year.

The coach of a perennially young team, Evans finally has watched her squad grow up, and she now has 12 seniors.

While the Diamondbacks have yet to play at their best this year, their leadership, poise and ability to perform in the clutch is evident.

The latest example came when Desert Oasis survived a shaky shooting night to defeat host Cheyenne 62-50 on Monday.

“They’ve all been waiting for this just as much as I have,” Evans said. “They are all leaders. They are a lot more mature, and they don’t make the same mistakes, but tonight they didn’t always look like seniors.

“It’s not a learning curve any more. They know how to play now.”

Tatiana Kearn and Sammi Tso, two of the Diamondbacks’ three four-year varsity players, combined for 38 points and seemed to hit a clutch shot every time Desert Oasis needed one.

Desert Oasis made only 21 of 62 shots, but committed only eight turnovers.

The Diamondbacks (3-0) led 32-18 at halftime, then fought off a series of runs by Cheyenne (1-2). In the fourth quarter, surges by the Desert Shields were halted by Tso’s drive through the paint with 4:19 to play and a 3-pointer by Kearn with 2:36 remaining that made it 55-45.

Kearn hit four 3-pointers and had 20 points. Tso had three 3s and scored 18.

“That’s what great about this team, is that at any given time they do step up, and we always have a leader on the floor,” Evans said. “They know how to pick each other up.”

Ashley Hibbard, starting in place of leading rebounder Taryn Crawford, had 12 boards for Desert Oasis, which has one player taller than 5 feet 7 inches.

Noni Barree had 15 points for Cheyenne. Lajuana Brown added 13 points and 14 rebounds, and Bria Buchanan supplied 11 points and 11 rebounds.