Salpointe coach Joseph Luevano’s career spans only five years, which means he has witnessed the development of many of his quality eight-player senior class from before they started their Lancer careers.
The core of the senior class Taliyah Henderson, Hannah Williams, Allison Even and Jordan Watts won two 4A state titles under Luevano — the first championships in program history — in 2021-22 and 2023-24 — during their four-year varsity careers.
Sidney Anderson joined the program last year from Ironwood Ridge and fit right in as one of the top players in the state.
“We can’t lose sight of the experiences we’ve had,” Luevano said he told his team after the top-seeded Lancers lost 71-59 in the Open Division quarterfinals to No. 9 Surprise Valley Vista on Thursday night at Salpointe.
The Monsoon (23-7) defeated the Lancers for the second straight year in the Open Division at Salpointe.
Last year’s outcome in the second round of the Open Division allowed Salpointe to switch to the 4A state tournament, which the Lancers won. With Salpointe reaching the quarterfinals this season, they do not have the opportunity to compete in the 4A playoffs.
Another loss to Valley Vista on Arizona’s grandest stage stings but does not take away from the memorable accomplishments of the Salpointe seniors.
.@SalpointeB coach Joseph Luevano performed the best coaching job in the state this year, putting the Lancers in the No. 1 spot of the Open Division as a 4A program despite losing one of the top players in the state – Taliyah Henderson – and his starting point guard – Jordan… pic.twitter.com/locW9F5dTP
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 28, 2025
“This program has had a regular season that is arguably the best that any Southern Arizona team has ever seen, flat-out,” Luevano said. “That group is an incredible group. The senior group, I’ve been dancing around it, but they are the best senior group Tucson has ever seen. Flat-out, I don’t care.”
Salpointe became rated the No. 1 team in Arizona despite not having potentially the No. 1 player in the state — Henderson — all year because of a knee injury she suffered before the season. Luevano also lost his starting point guard, Watts, to a knee injury before the season began.
Despite those serious losses, Salpointe still finished 26-6 overall with an 8-0 record and championship of the 4A Kino region.
Luevano’s team opened the Open Division tournament, which features the top-32 power-rated teams in the state from 4A to 6A, with blowout wins over Cactus Shadows (74-28 score) and Sunnyside (64-33).
Imagine if he had Henderson, bound for North Carolina, and Watts, a Knox College signee?
“That’s something that gets lost in all of this,” Luevano said when asked about Salpointe’s high level of success without Henderson and Watts. “We did the regional awards the other day and I don’t think my kids get the credit they deserve.
“People forget that we didn’t only lose two of our best players, we lost the best player in the state in Taliyah Henderson, who was going to be the best player. Taliyah Henderson plays her senior year and she’s a McDonald’s All-American and I don’t know if there’s ever been a McDonald’s All-American from Tucson before.”
Sahuaro great Alyssa Brown and former Sabino players Kiya Dorroh and Kamryn Doty were nominees for the McDonald’s All-American team in 2020-21 but were not selected.
Four members of Salpointe’s team were chosen to the All-4A Kino first team — Anderson, Even, Williams and sophomore Jayci Nelson. Jolee Nelson, a senior, was a second-team pick.
Mica Mountain coach Alex Jackson, who has coached the Thunderbolts to a 21-8 record and into the 4A state tournament, was selected the 4A Kino Coach of the Year.
Jackson’s Isabella Webb was chosen the region’s Offensive Player of the Year and Ironwood Ridge’s Molly Walter was the Defensive Player of the Year.
Anderson was chosen the 4A Kino Player of the Year.
“We had an incredible season and really did not have necessarily bad night until tonight,” Luevano said. “It says the toughness of this group and the incredibleness of that group. I hope our younger players who are freshmen, sophomores and juniors learn from that and continue to build.
“Those seniors learned from the Class of ’22, from those kids and how tough they were. This is sad but I’m just so proud of them.”
The Class of 2022 included the likes of Kylee Callahan, Tessa Hastings, Janaya Morgan and Annika Arvayo.
Anderson, who is headed to Grand Canyon, capped her high school career with 26 points in the loss to Valley Vista on Thursday night.
She helped keep the Lancers in the game up to halftime with 16 points in the first half and Salpointe trailing 30-26.
Valley Vista’s length and athletic ability took over defensively and on the offensive rebounds from the start of the second half.
The Monsoon started the half on a 9-2 run to establish a 39-28 lead with 5:48 left in the third quarter.
Kinsey Murray scored seven of her 25 points in that stretch.
“We had nothing to lose (as the lower seed),” said Valley Vista coach Brooklynn Hinkens. “When we were scouting them, and we were watching film and we were practicing, we just practiced with a chip on our shoulder. We came in here knowing that it was going to be a different environment, knowing that we were going to have to play our best defensive game that we’ve ever played.
“I mean, Salpointe is No. 1 for a reason, and respectfully so. They have amazing players, and they’re very, very well-coached. At the end of the day, I think tonight we had a better defensive game, and our kids were really, really focused. They listened, and that right there is a big deal.”
Valley Vista led by at least eight points the rest of the game after the strong start to the third quarter. The lead grew to as high as 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Jada Wilson, who had only four points with three fouls in the first half, had 10 points in the second half to finish with 14.
Tysyn Johnson also had 12 of her 15 points in the second half for Valley Vista.
“We knew that Salpointe was going to make an adjustment out of their 2-3 zone, and so what we’ve been watching, what we’ve been studying essentially all season, was that they like to go back from 2-3 to 3-2 and to 2-3. So we have specific sets that we like to run and specific things that we are looking for.
“It’s really easy to be distracted at halftime and to worry about how tired you are, but these kids, they listened. They asked questions. They came out and they did everything that we asked. So I am very, very proud of them.”
Even, a Trinity University signee, had 12 points for Salpointe.
Williams, who is bound for NAU, finished with 11.
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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 in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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