Kiley Sours-Miller had 19 points and 11 rebounds to earn MVP honors in the NJCAA Region I, Division II tournament, leading No. 2 Pima to a 71-66 victory at No. 1 Mesa on Saturday night.
The championship is the eighth Region I, Division II title under coach Todd Holthaus and the ninth overall in program history.
Pima also won the NJCAA Division II Southwest District championship when COVID-19 impacted the 2020-21 season.
The Aztecs (26-5) are in the midst of a nine-game winning streak that includes two wins at Mesa, which beat Pima in the first two meetings this season.
Pima earns an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division II tournament. The bracket will be announced Tuesday.
(#2 seed) Aztecs @PimaWBB CAPTURES THE REGION I, DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS after beating (#1 seed) Mesa Community College. The Aztecs are headed to Joplin, MO for the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. They are 26-5 overall. #PimaBasketball #AztecTOUGH pic.twitter.com/9fMWWo3blq
— PimaAthletics (@PimaAthletics) March 9, 2025
Mesa (24-8) is expected to be an at-large team in the 20-team field for the NJCAA Division II tournament.
Sours-Miller, a freshman formerly of Arizona State who recently was chosen the ACCAC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year, produced her 16th double-double of the season. She also achieved that feat in Thursday’s semifinal win over Phoenix College at West Aztec Gym with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Amphitheater graduate Mattanaya Vital, a sophomore, had 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, 4 of 6 from beyond the arc in the win at Mesa.
Melicia Nelson, a freshman, finished with 12 points — seven in the fourth quarter.
Pima’s strong start, leading 16-4 at the end of the first quarter, paid dividends later. Sours-Miller and Vital each had six points in the quarter.
Mesa gradually chipped away and rallied to take a 50-49 lead into the fourth quarter.
Pima started the quarter on a 7-0 run, capped by Kennedi Niemann’s jump shot with 6:56 left that put the Aztecs ahead 56-50.
Nelson’s 3-pointer with 4:37 remaining gave Pima a 61-54 lead.
Mesa scored the next five points, the last on Brittany Kogbara’s one of two free throws made with 3:01 left.
Sophomore Amelie Buffill-Gutierrez, a Sabino graduate, then made a jumper with 2:39 left to give Pima a 63-59 lead.
After Meisha Caserio made a 3-pointer for Mesa, Sours-Miller made a layup off a pass from Rori Hoffmeyer to put the Aztecs ahead 65-62 with 1:04 left.
Caserio again made a jump shot but Nelson answered with a jumper of her own. Pima led 67-64 with 26 seconds remaining.
Following a turnover by Mesa, Niemann took the inbound pass and drove to the basket for a layup and was fouled with 19 seconds left.
She made free throw to increase the lead to 70-64.
Kogbara converted a layup with 9 seconds left and Nelson made one of two free-throw attempts a second later to close the scoring.
Kogbara finished with 19 points and eight rebounds.
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