SPEED DEMONS
Athletic Apollo team sends Cactus Shadows to
5th straight semifinal loss

Marc Buckhout ~ Managing Editor ~ 03/03/2010

The game plan going into Thursday’s 4A Div-I state semifinals was sound for the No. 3 seed Cactus Shadows Falcons (22-7). The idea was to pack the middle defensively and dare the No. 2 seeded Apollo Hawks (23-4) to beat them from the outside.
Against an athletically superior team coach Ryan Pletnick’s squad showed the guile and tenacity that earned them a 5th straight state semifinal appearance early on as they took a 9-8 lead into the second quarter of the game at Jobing.com Arena. In the end though a rough shooting night and too much team speed from the Hawks would lead to the fifth straight Falcons team see their season end one game short of playing for a state championship, this time losing by a 59-45 final score.
“All three of the other teams in the semifinals are here with a star player leading the way,” senior point guard Mollie Shoulders said. “We wanted to prove that a team, one without a star, one where everybody contributes equally, could win a championship. We obviously fell short of that.”
In taking a 9-8 lead into the second quarter the Falcons largely limited Apollo to one shot and avoided getting involved in an up-tempo game, one where the Hawks speed could flourish.
The second quarter would prove the Falcons undoing though as Apollo crashed the offensive glass and relentlessly drove the ball to the basket.
“We looked at the shot charts at halftime and they didn’t make a single basket outside the lane in the first half ,” Pletnick said. “We had to concentrate on the boards and we just didn’t get the rebounds we needed to. They got too many easy chances.”
Led by sophomore Peace Amukamara and junior Promise Amukamara, who combined for 18 of the team’s 24 first half points, the Hawks rallied from the one-point first quarter deficit to take a 28-16 lead at halftime. While they converted 14 –of -24 shots from inside the paint the Hawks were 0-11 from the perimeter. Promise finished the game with a game-high 25 points.
And while the Falcons defense was struggling to keep Apollo guards from penetrating the Cactus Shadows offense was having problems of its own.
Apollo guard Alex Parris was given the task of keeping Shoulders from being a factor offensively. The sophomore did so by denying Shoulders the ball all over the court.
Beyond holding Shoulders scoreless through the game’s first three quarters, the bigger impact was the Falcons other players were unable to get Cactus Shadows into their offensive sets.
“They completely took us out of anything we were trying to do,” Pletnick said. “Once they took the ball out of Mollie’s hands we needed somebody else to step up to get us into our offense and that just didn’t happen.”
Shoulders, who finished with seven points, all of which came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach, expressed her frustration.
“I’m not sure what we could have done different,” she said. “I wasn’t able to do anything to help the team. It was disappointing.”
Through the games’ first three quarters Cactus Shadows made only 8 –of- 40 shots, a 20 percent clip. Junior guard Kate Accola was the lone Falcons player in double figures, scoring 13 points.
After creating offense throughout the season by forcing turnovers with their full court pressing defense the Falcons were forced to sit back and play a zone defense in efforts to avoid getting exposed athletically.
“Obviously we’re not anywhere near as fast a team as they are,” Shoulders said. “It was frustrating. We didn’t talk on defense the way we needed to or help like we should have.”
Pletnick said his team’s poor shooting compounded the problems.
“We got some good looks, but just couldn’t connect,” Pletnick said. “We obviously needed to shoot better tonight if we expected to win. It seemed like every time we missed it was a long rebound and they made us pay for those by scoring in transition.”
Down as many as 25 in the third quarter the Falcons coach said his team showed its character in refusing to give up. Against Apollo reserves the Falcons chipped away, getting within 12 on a three pointer by Desert Sky Region player of the year Maria Caranza late in the fourth quarter. Caranza, a four-year varsity player for the Falcons finished her career with eight points, six of which came in the final quarter.
Despite the disappointment in the season’s final game Pletnick said he was very appreciative for having had the chance to work with the team, particularly his five graduating seniors in Caranza, Shoulders, Chelsi Zalewski, Kaila Peluso and Caitlin Noll.
“That’s a decorated group of players,” he said. “They’ve really set a standard here by working phenomenally hard. They’re a great bunch.”
As for the future Pletnick said he’ll expect to be competitive once again next season.
“We’ve got some holes to fill, but we’ve got a lot of talent coming back,” he said. “We’ll take a week off and then get back to work.”
5A Div-II state tournament
The Boulder Creek Jaguars saw their season come to a close in the first round of the 5A Div-II state tournament Thursday.
By finishing the regular season with an 11-12 mark the Jaguars earned the No. 14 seed and their second trip of the season to Kingman.
Against the No. 3 Bulldogs (23-4) the Falcons fought valiantly before falling to Kingman for the third time this season, 51-49.