LOCAL GLANCE: AWC falls to Eastern Arizona

The Arizona Western women's basketball team let a late lead slip away in Thatcher.

Eastern Arizona closed out the second half strong and took down the Matadors 73-69 on Saturday night.

Five players scored in double-figures for the Matadors — including Samantha Wallace (16), Emilie Muanandibu (13) and Imari Lyons (12). The Matadors (9-3 overall, 3-1 in Arizona Community College Athletic Conference) led 63-56, but the Gila Monsters closed out the game on a 7-2 run.

“We're an average team that lost to an average team with an average performance,” Matador coach Patrick Cunningham said. “Right now, that's the situation.”

Arizona Western is still without reigning ACCAC Freshman of the Year Lisette Longomo, who is out with a shoulder injury. The Matadors play at Chandler-Gilbert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

JUCO MEN'S BASKETBALL


AWC beats Eastern Arizona

Tanner Clayton and Carlos Perez led the Matadors with 16 points a piece in their 72-67 win over Eastern Arizona Saturday night.

It was a big game for Perez, who failed to score during Wednesday's game against Glendale.

“I thought we executed very well down the stretch, and our big guys played really well,” said AWC head coach Charles Harral. “Tanner continued to come up with some big plays, and I was really proud of Carlos for bouncing back from Wednesday like he did.”

The win extends the Matadors winning streak to seven games and improves their record to 10-3 overall and 5-0 in the ACCAC.

PREP WRESTLING

Cibola perfect at Ironwood Ridge

With a pair of reigning state champions competing, the Cibola wrestling team was the cream of the crop.

The Raiders went 3-0 in a 4-team meet at Ironwood Ridge with Thunderbird and Amphitheater on Saturday.

Ironwood Ridge is the reigning Division II champion and Thunderbird won the Division III title last season. The Raiders got within 1.5 points of taking the Division I championship last winter.

Josh Olson (113), Luis Nunez (138), Miguel Lugo (152), Vicente Guerrero (170) and heavyweight Brandon Firestone all went undefeated. Trailing by two points against Ironwood Ridge, Olson won the last match to put the Raiders on top 38-34.

“It's on our list on our way. One of the checkpoints was getting this,” Cibola coach Mike Jankowski said. “Everyone wants to count us out because we're from Yuma.”

The Raiders return home 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to face Brawley, the only team to beat Cibola a year ago.

Sidewinder goes 4-0

San Luis' Carlos Urquijo (220) went 4-0 at the Radford Duals in Phoenix, improving his overall record to 8-0 this season. Gadiel Contreras (132) also had a good day for San Luis going 3-1 with three pins.

“Overall team-wise we didn't do as good as we wanted to,” said San Luis head coach Rob Jankowski. “Everybody we took got a win and that was good to see. Carlos just continues to dominate.”

San Luis' next meet is against Yuma Catholic and Yuma High is Wednesday, 4 p.m. at San Luis.

PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL

Kofa takes Brawley tournament

The Kofa girls basketball team got a big performance from senior Jacky Fuentes and beat Gila Ridge 46-38 in the championship of the Brawley tournament on Saturday.

Fuentes finished with 22 points in the title game and Sally Gastelo added 13 for the Kings. Naomi Henry had a team-high 10 points for the Hawks and Mariah Carter added seven.

The Kings also beat Holtville, Imperial and Brawley during the tournament. Kayla Cruz made a 3-pointer to force overtime in Kofa's 42-40 win over Imperial.

Fuentes was named the tournament MVP and Gastelo made the all-tournament team.