Sophomores Bailey Johnson, Sydni Stallworth, Katie Bell, Bree Cates, Denesia Smith, Erin Peterson and Moana Hala'ufia (back right) with their families and coaches after beating Arizona Western College 79-73. The Aztecs will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Region I, Division II tournament. Photo by Raymond Suarez.
Sophomores Bailey Johnson, Sydni Stallworth, Katie Bell, Bree Cates, Denesia Smith, Erin Peterson and Moana Hala'ufia (back right) with their families and coaches after beating Arizona Western College 79-73. The Aztecs will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Region I, Division II tournament. Photo by Raymond Suarez.

Sophomore standouts help Aztecs women's basketball top Arizona Western College

The Pima Community College women's basketball team (22-7, 16-6 in ACCAC) closed out the regular season on Tuesday and picked up a big win over Division I team Arizona Western College (22-8, 17-5) on Sophomore Night at the West Campus.

The No. 9 ranked Aztecs defeated the Matadors 79-73 and will be the No. 2 seed for next week's Region I, Division II tournament.

Up 43-41 in the third quarter, the Aztecs widened their lead with a 10-0 run to make it 53-41 that was capped off by back-to-back three-pointers from freshmen Alliyah Bryant (Mesquite HS) and Katey Roquemore. In the fourth quarter, the Aztecs led 65-58 but sophomore Erin Peterson (Catalina Foothills HS) made it a double digit lead once again when she converted on a three-point play with 4:23 left in the game. The Matadors would get no closer than five points.

The Aztecs scored the first 12 points of the game and held a 26-16 lead after the first quarter. The Matadors went on a 10-0 run in the second quarter and Pima's lead was cut to 37-34 at the break.

Sophomore Sydni Stallworth (Palo Verde HS) flirted with a triple-double as she finished the game with 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Sophomore Bree Cates had 17 points while fellow sophomore Denesia Smith (Cienega HS) scored 13 points after going 5 for 6 from the field.

Roquemore provided a spark off the bench as she finished with 11 points. Sophomore Moana Hala'ufia (Marana HS) grabbed 10 rebounds and Peterson contributed with seven points and eight rebounds.

The Aztecs swept the regular season meetings with the Matadors. They won 91-73 last month in Yuma.

After the game, sophomores Stallworth, Smith, Cates, Peterson, Hala'ufia, Bailey Johnson (Tucson HS) and Katie Bell (Nogales HS) were recognized for their contributions to Pima.

The Aztecs will host a Region I, Division II semifinal match-up against No. 3 seed Scottsdale Community College at the West Campus on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

AWC     16     18     12     27     73
PCC       26     11     18     24     79