A year ago, on this very 4A championship stage, Flagstaff watched a dream, two-loss season come crashing down in unceremonious fashion. Not only did the Eagles lose to Salpointe Catholic that night, but they were uncompetitive. It was the type of defeat that lingers and slivers into your mind during off-season workouts, pushing you into an extra gear in the weight room or during a hill sprint.
For Flagstaff, it was all the more painful because of what last year represented. It was the Eagles’ first trip to the state championship in three decades — the type of season made possible because they had an All-Arizona player in Gracelyn Nez. When Nez graduated, Flagstaff’s title hopes departed with her, or so the thinking went.
Instead, Flagstaff returned to Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. This time, they entered as the No. 2 seed and favorite. This time, they won, sneaking by No. 4 seed Pueblo in a 68-65 to claim the school’s first title since 1992. This time, when the final buzzer sounded, coach Tyrone Johnson, now in his 17th year, walked onto the floor, reared back and stepped into a ferocious fist pump, shedding nearly two decades of frustration with it.
“Finally, we did it,” Johnson said, the championship net still hanging from his neck. “Seventeen years, it’s been a long time coming. I’m just like, thank you, Lord. Finally.”
To get there, Flagstaff had to use every ounce of its championship knowhow. A year ago, Johnson said, the Eagles were too individualistic. “This year, we really worked together a lot,” he continued.
On Thursday, that manifested itself just after halftime. Senior guard Sage Begay had been on fire early on, scoring 10 points in the first quarter to help Flagstaff jump out to a 15-9 lead. But when she got into foul trouble early in the third quarter, she had to hit the bench for an extended period. When she re-entered, she didn’t force herself back into an offensive groove.
“Last year, kids would do that,” Johnson said. “Instead, she moved the ball, she relied on her team and the team success was more important than individual success.”
Thanks in part to that balanced approach, Flagstaff entered the fourth quarter with 49 points. That, though, wasn’t enough to put Pueblo to bed. Instead, every time Flagstaff threatened to pull away, Pueblo’s Cazares sisters responded.
In the first quarter, it was the senior, Victoria Cazares, who hit a key three to stop a Flagstaff run and hold the Eagles’ lead at five. In the second, it was the freshman, America Cazares, who hit a pair of deep balls each time Flagstaff extended its lead to seven.
“Some of them that they were hitting, I was like, well, shoot,” Flagstaff freshman Bella Burcar said. “We would hit one, they would hit one. It would just be going back and forth.”
Flagstaff adjusted by faceguarding the sisters, but if the strategy had any impact, it was minimal. By night’s end, Victoria had scored a game-high 27, while America had 18. Together, they scored 19 of Pueblo’s 22 fourth quarter points.
After a night of hanging around, letting Flagstaff’s lead hold steady between four and 10, Pueblo worked the game’s first tie since 2-2 at 52-52 with 5:20 left. That was where Flagstaff’s resolve took over, with a perfectly-timed 6-0 mini-run.
“It was important that we executed when they came and they tied it up,” Johnson said. “It was important on the next possession that we executed and we got a bucket and we were able to go back up. I think if we would’ve not done that and lost the lead and allowed them to take the lead, it would’ve been a scramble situation from there.”
Still, putting the game away was no easy task. Even when Flagstaff pushed its lead back to five with under a minute to go, America Cazares responded with a putback to get within a possession. After Burcar missed the front end of a one-and-one, Flagstaff intentionally fouled with six seconds left. Pueblo’s Sara Galindo hit both, but so did Morning Honani on the other end.
With 4.8 seconds left, that set up the type of scenario that puts hearts in throats. Three-point game, one possession left to tie it. The Cazares sisters, though, had used up all their magic. Victoria Cazares was whistled for a travel as she took the ball up the floor, not that it would have mattered. Her desperation three at the buzzer fell unceremoniously to the floor.
With that, Flagstaff’s celebrations began. As Johnson joyously pumped his fist into the air, his players mobbed Burcar near the free throw line, celebrating the player who led the way not just on Thursday, with her 19 points, but all season, helping fill the void left by Nez with a team-high 12.6 points per game. “You lost greatness in Gracelyn and then you get greatness coming in in Bella,” as Johnson put it.
On Thursday, that greatness led to a state title.
“When the horn goes off and you see the tears of joy as opposed to the tears of frustration and pain,” Johnson said, “I’m just so happy for this group.”