SIERRA VISTA INVITATIONAL: Determined Coronado girls persevere past Patriots for title

Simple logic seemed to point toward Liberty’s girls basketball team breezing past Coronado on Friday in the championship game of the Sierra Vista Invitational.

The Cougars spent a ton of energy clawing their way back from a third-quarter deficit to beat Canyon Springs in a physical game earlier in the day, were playing their fifth game in 56 hours and had lost to the Patriots by 23 points just two weeks ago.

And Coronado didn’t care about any of that.

The Cougars simply persevered, leading for the final 27:40 of a 51-42 win over Liberty.

“That first game, it took us everything we had just to come back,” said Coronado coach Bill Crego. “I just told them to play as hard as they can. Fortunately, we have enough kids who can play, and they gave us some quality time.”

Even after battling back to beat Canyon Springs, 54-44 in the semifinal, the Cougars (12-6) had enough left in the tank to play a rotating defense that seemed to confuse Liberty in the first half.

The Patriots (16-6), playing their only game of the day, held only a 1-0 lead in the game before Sofie Cruz’s second-chance jumper with 4:20 to go in the first quarter put Coronado ahead to stay, and the Cougars pushed the margin to 24-12 at the half.

Liberty made just 5 of 16 field-goal attempts in the first half. Dayanni Cochran, a 6-foot-2-inch post, was 5 of 7 in the first half; the rest of Liberty’s team was 0 of 9 with a team total of 13 turnovers.

“The last time we played them, we let them get the ball inside,” said Crego, whose team lost to Liberty 58-35 in a Southeast League game on Dec. 21. “Liberty wants to drive to the basket. Our kids made up their minds that they just weren’t going to let them.”

Still, Liberty used a late third-quarter burst to pull within 31-29, but got no closer.

Coronado made 9 of 10 free throws in the final 2:04 to ice the game.

Cruz finished with 20 points. Dajah Washington added 13 points, and Skylar Feldman scored 11 — all in the second quarter — for Coronado, which went 5-0 in the tournament after winning just one of its previous six games.

“I knew we were struggling,” Crego said. “We’d rather have this have been a league game, but we’ll take it any time we can get it. At least they have the confidence now to know that they can compete with them.”

Cochran had 12 points to pace Liberty, which finished 14 of 42 from the field.

Coronado 54, Canyon Springs 44 — Cruz and Washington each scored 10 points in the second half as the Cougars battled back from a 33-26 halftime deficit to down the Pioneers.

Cruz finished with 14 points, and Washington and Skylar Feldman each added 12 points for Coronado, which ended the game on a 26-7 run.

LaKiya Yarber paced Canyon Springs with 12 points.

Silverado 47, Del Sol 43 — Brittany Loguidice scored 10 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, and the Skyhawks scrapped back from a 37-25 deficit with less than a minute to play in the third quarter and nipped the Dragons in the consolation final.

Jasmyn Garcia added 11 points, and A.J. Hodas scored 10 for Silverado, which outscored Del Sol 20-6 in the fourth quarter.

Rela Coleman had 14 points, and Chloe Cabanas scored 11 for Del Sol.

Del Sol 38, Sierra Vista 31 — Coleman tallied seven of her 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Dragons rallied from a 20-14 halftime deficit to top the Mountain Lions.

Melissa DeSantiago added eight points for Del Sol.

Kennedy Nieves and Enas Ajaj each had eight points for Sierra Vista.