Liberty Invite: Canyon Springs opens tourney with two wins

Sydnei Collier may have made her biggest shot on Friday several hours before she sank five 3-pointers, contributing to an unbeaten first day for the Canyon Springs girls basketball team in Pool A at the Liberty Thanksgiving Invitational.

Collier made the five 3s during the Pioneers’ 64-47 rout of Cimarron-Memorial. Her 15 points were second to teammate Jeanette Fine’s 23 in the afternoon victory over the Spartans.

But it was the shot at around 9:40 a.m. that allowed Canyon Springs to stay in position to play for the tournament championship at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The Pioneers enter their final pool-play game against the Liberty junior varsity (a last-minute substitute for Cheyenne, which had to bow out before the tournament began) needing a win to finish 3-0 and almost certainly move into the title game, possibly against host Liberty (also 2-0 on Friday).

At 9:39 a.m., the Pioneers trailed Faith Lutheran 39-38 in their first game of the tourney.

But Canyon Springs got four chances in the final 14 seconds of that game. Finally, with 1.4 seconds left, Collier got the ball just inside the 3-point line, almost straight away. She let the shot go and swished the game-winner in a 40-39 victory.

“I felt like that one shot kind of woke us up,” Fine said. “I was tired this morning.”

If Fine was sluggish early, she was just the opposite against the Spartans during the afternoon.

Fine scored 20 of her 23 points after the first quarter had ended. With her output, the Pioneers’ scoring overall also took off.

Cimarron actually led 10-8 going into the second quarter. With 4 minutes, 39 seconds to play in the first half, the Spartans still held a 19-14 lead after Alyssa DeVries’three-point play.

But Fine scored seven points in the final 4:27 of the period, Collier made two of those five 3-pointers, and Canyon Springs ended the half with a 17-0 run to take a 31-19 lead at the break. Fine scored the first basket of the third quarter to extend the run to 19-0 before Yesenia Wesley-Nash finally ended the spurt at the 6:47 mark of the third quarter with two of her team-high 15 points.

“We’re always slow to start,” Fine said. “But we finish hard.”

Against Cimarron, the Pioneers did lose their focus a bit down the stretch. Fine scored with 3:48 to go, extending the lead to 59-36. During the next 1:45, the Spartans went on a 9-0 run to get within 14 at 59-45. It was as close as Cimarron would get.

Still, the quarter belonged to the Spartans and guard Elise Young, who scored all 14 of her points over the final eight minutes.

“We have new parts,” Canyon Springs coach Chris Walker said. “It’s a work in progress. Hopefully, we can be playing at peak at the end of the season, rather than now. Our girls are super athletic. We just have to stay disciplined.”

All 10 participating teams played twice in their pools on Friday. Each plays a third on Saturday morning to establish seeds for the place games during the afternoon.

Canyon Springs 40, Faith Lutheran 39 — Collier had 10 points, including the game-winning bucket, as the Pioneers edged the Crusaders.

Ja’moni Brown also scored 10 points for Cnayon Springs.

Kelsey Howryla and Quianna Brown each had 10 points for Faith Lutheran.

Cimarron-Memorial 49, Coronado 43 — Wesley-Nash scored 16 of her 18 points in the first half to help the Spartans hold off the Cougars.

Young added 12 points for Cimarron, which made 11 of 18 free throws in the fourth quarter to cement the win. All but four of the Spartans’ second-half points came from the free-throw line.

Haley Morton led Coronado with 15 points.

Faith Lutheran 54, Liberty JV 34 — Howryla had 14 points, and Kayla Proctor scored 11 to help the Crusaders beat the Patriots’ junior varsity.

Liberty 61, Desert Pines 22 — Robin Walker had 15 points to lead three Patriots in double figures as they routed the Jaguars.

Joy Watkins added 12 points, and Torri Biggars scored 10 for Liberty, which outscored Desert Pines 22-7 in the second quarter to take a 35-10 lead.

Zeyana Pattillo had 12 points to pace the Jaguars.

Desert Pines 63, Chaparral 54 — Elasjanae Burns poured in 30 points to lead the Jaguars over the Cowboys.

Pattillo added 13 points for Desert Pines, which outscored Chaparral 21-8 in the second quarter to take a 37-25 halftime advantage.

Emani White led the Cowboys with 22 points.

Bonanza 26, Rancho 19 — Madeline Gonzalez had 11 points as the Bengals topped the Rams.

Macyn Raleigh added eight points for Bonanza, which used a 7-1 second-quarter run to take a 13-7 halftime lead.

Shaolin Vann scored eight for Rancho.

Bonanza 73, Chaparral 41 — Sade Booker had 25 points to lead the Bengals over the Cowboys.

Raleigh added 12 points for the Bengals, who led 44-28 at the half.

Jai’La Vincent scored 14 for Chaparral.

Liberty 67, Rancho 26 — Journie Augmon had 21 points as the Patriots routed the Rams.

Walker and Watkins each added 15 points for Liberty.

Kristal Sullivan and Taylor DeGourville each scored eight points to pace Rancho.

Coronado 31, Liberty JV 26 — Teagan Varrati and Gabbie Etopio each had six points as the Cougars held off the Patriots’ junior varsity.