Monday’s game between Marana and Sahuaro was stopped at halftime by the principals of both schools after it was learned the Cougars may have been exposed to a recent opposing player who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
Sahuaro was ahead 33-10 at halftime when the game was called.
Steve Botkin, the Cougars’ coach and athletic director, heard from the Arizona Interscholastic Association on Tuesday that the result of the game will stand as long as Marana coach Tory Perez agreed to the outcome. If Perez did not accept the halftime score as the result, the game would have to be rescheduled.
“I talked with Tory and that’s what we decided to do,” Botkin said. “That way with COVID-19 and scheduling nightmares, we don’t have to reschedule it. It also gets us closer to that magic number of 10 games.”
A team must play 10 regular season games to qualify for the state playoffs this season.
Sahuaro is now 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the 4A Kino. The Cougars hope to play seven games scheduled over an eight-day stretch starting Thursday at Rio Rico. Marana is 1-5 overall and 1-0 in the 5A Sonoran.
Six of the Cougars, including standout forward Alyssa Brown, who has signed with UNLV, went to urgent care after leaving Sahuaro’s gym on Monday to get immediately tested. The remainder of the team was tested on Tuesday. Botkin said he hopes to know of the results by Wednesday.
With Brown’s 18 points against Marana official, she now ranks 17th in Arizona’s career scoring rankings with 2,217 points. She passed former Phoenix Sierra Linda player Janae Gonzales, who scored 2,204 points from 2014-18. Gonzales is now a junior at Loyola (Chicago).
Brown is No. 4 among Southern Arizona players trailing only Catalina Foothills’ Julie Brase, Lute Olson’s granddaughter (2,913 points from 1994-98); Tucson High’s Alexis Cortez (2,479 from 2012-16) and Green Fields’ Olivia Snyder (2,382 from 2009-13).
Arizona Girls Basketball Career Scoring Leaders
| No. | Player | School | Years | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julie Brase | Catalina Foothills | 1994-1998 | 2,913 |
| 2 | Alyssa Brown | Sahuaro | 2017-2021 | 2,680 |
| 3 | Kayla Pedersen | Red Mountain | 2003-2007 | 2,611 |
| 4 | Christina Wirth | Seton Catholic | 2001-2005 | 2,550 |
| 5 | Kayla Mackenzie | Kellis | 2006-2010 | 2,515 |
| 6 | Ashley Wirtzberger | Yuma Catholic/Gila Bend | 2006-2010 | 2,505 |
| 7 | Alexis Cortez | Tucson | 2012-2016 | 2,479 |
| 8 | Nicole Powell | Mountain Pointe | 1996-2000 | 2,478 |
| 9 | Shaylee Gonzales | Mesquite | 2014-2018 | 2,385 |
| 10 | Olivia Snyder | Green Fields | 2009-2013 | 2,382 |
Southern Arizona Girls Basketball Scoring Leaders
| No. | Player | School | Years | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julie Brase | Catalina Foothills | 1994-1998 | 2,913 |
| 2 | Alyssa Brown | Sahuaro | 2017-Present | 2,592 |
| 3 | Alexis Cortez | Tucson | 2012-2016 | 2,479 |
| 4 | Olivia Snyder | Green Fields | 2009-2013 | 2,382 |
| 5 | Sydni Stallworth | Palo Verde | 2011-2015 | 2,182 |
| 6 | Shawn Coder | Willcox | 1986-1990 | 2,162 |
| 7 | Paula Pyers | Santa Rita | 1980-1984 | 2,082 |
| 8 | Taneisha Gossett | Flowing Wells | 1990-1994 | 2,043 |
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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