Pima Community College sports

Pima women to face Scottsdale in ACCAC Region I, Division II championship

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Pima’s Angel Addleman (Steve Escobar/Pima Community College)

Saturday’s matchup for the ACCAC Region I Division II championship at Pima College’s West Gym comes as a surprise — but not to the Aztecs.

Pima’s rival Mesa, the No. 2 seed in the region tournament, lost at home to No. 3 Scottsdale 65-59 on Wednesday night while the top-seeded Aztecs took care of No. 4 Chandler-Gilbert 83-66 at the West Gym.

So much for the Jackrabbits and Aztecs meeting in another championship game, as was the case in 12 of the previous 14 years.

Pima (24-7) is in the championship game for the seventh straight season, excluding the 2020-21 season impacted by COVID-19.

“It was at Mesa and I thought Mesa would prevail tonight, to be honest,” Pima coach Todd Holthaus said of Scottsdale’s victory Wednesday. “But I’m not shocked that Scottsdale won because Scottsdale has beaten them.

“It really comes down to us Saturday night. We have to figure out a way to make sure we protect our home court and get the job done.”

Mesa, 2-0 against Pima this season, went 0-3 against Scottsdale.

Pima is 2-0 against Scottsdale.

The varied outcomes indicate anything can happen.

“At this point, it’s 0-0 again,” said Pima guard Luisa Chavez, who had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists in Wednesday’s win over Chandler-Gilbert.

“We can’t have no letups. We just want to win no matter what the cost. We want to play as a team, obviously, and stick together. It’s going to be a hard game. We’re really excited. We’re going to work these next two days pretty hard and be ready for Saturday.”

The game Saturday will also mark the last time Chavez, Angel Addleman, Matehya Aberle and six other sophomores will be part of a game at Pima in their careers.

Addleman, of Palo Verde, and Chavez, of Rio Rico, have spent the last three years in the Aztec program, allowed the extra year of eligibility because of COVID-19 restrictions that took place in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

“Pima’s just a great program,” said Addleman, who returned from a torn ACL injury last season. “I’m going to miss it so much, for sure. I can’t give enough credit to my coaches and my teammates.

“It will help us bring the effort because it’s our last game, so we just have to bring it, be excited and have fun with each other and all that stuff.”

Addleman finished with a game-high 18 points against Chandler-Gilbert, which finished 10-20 and made the playoffs as the No. 4 ACCAC Division II team despite losing its last six regular-season games.

Addleman never missed a shot. She went 5 for 5 from the field and 8 for 8 from the free-throw line. She also added four rebounds and four assists.

Aberle (10 points and seven rebounds) and fellow sophomore forward Torrance Begay (12 points) also had productive games in addition to Chavez. Freshman forward Dominique Acosta (Nogales grad) made it five double-figure scorers for Pima with 10 points.

“The nice part is we have a lot of sophomores, and they played last year, they went up to Mesa and lost (in the region title game),” said Holthaus, 338-154 in his 15th season at Pima. “So I think they remember those things. Luisa and Angel were freshmen in the COVID year (2020-21) when they went to nationals at Arkansas.

“We have a little bit of experience. We’ll make the best of it. The reality is we’ve played 31 games and none of them matter at this point. All that really matters is the next 40 minutes.”

NOTES

Addleman’s father, Al, sang the national anthem before Wednesday night’s game, a surprise to Angel, although the elder Addleman has sung the anthem at some of her previous games. …

Scottsdale also has an experienced backcourt with sophomores Monique Shim (14.8 points a game) and Malia Ukestine (10.1). Pima’s guard depth was affected recently by the torn ACL injury suffered by sophomore Priscila Varela, so Holthaus will count on Addleman, Chavez and sophomores Aiona Johnson and Camilla Norton to help fill that void against the Artichokes. …

Pima assistant coach Jim Rosborough, who helped in the development of Josh Pastner as a coach when Rosborough was an assistant of the Arizona men’s program, said he is hopeful that Georgia Tech will retain Pastner as coach. The Yellow Jackets finished 15-19 this season in Pastner’s seventh season after Wednesday’s 89-81 loss to Pitt in the ACC tournament. “I hope to be at Georgia Tech,” Pastner told reporters. “I love Georgia Tech. I love my job. I have a real passion for it, and I believe in it.” Georgia Tech president Angel Cabrera and athletic director J Batt, who has only been on the job since October, will make the call. “They’re in charge, so whatever they say, they’re in charge,” Pastner said. “I hope I can continue to be at Georgia Tech.”

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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. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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