Amarillo High girls basketball gets revenge on Monterey to spoil Aaliyah Chavez's 50 points
PLAINVIEW — It's hard for a sequel to live up to a best picture.
For about 30 minutes Monday, Amarillo High and Monterey gave it a valiant effort.
The Sandies used a pair of quick buckets, capped by a Bella Edwards 3-pointer in the corner, to create a late cushion that proved to be enough in a 75-68 win in the Region I-5A quarterfinal at Wayland Baptist's Hutcherson Center.
Edwards' only other points came on a buzzer-beating 3 that accounted for the sixth lead change of the third quarter. That put Amarillo up 48-47, and her second field goal made it 64-56 with 2 minutes, 16 seconds remaining — 47 seconds after the Plainsmen pulled within three points.
It wasn't the five-overtime slugfest of the same round a year ago, but it was a sight to behold for Amarillo coach Jeff Williams.
"That game last year was so incredible," Williams said. " … I'll always be proud of that effort, even though we didn't come out with the win. But (we were) really just trying to get better. We did things over the summer to help us get to a point where maybe we could beat them if we saw them again in this round. We thought we would. We did, and we got over the hump this year."
The result spoiled a 50-point performance by Monterey star Aaliyah Chavez. She scored 19 points in the fourth quarter trying to keep her team in it, but the Plainsmen couldn't get enough stops late.
"It's not over until the buzzer sounds," Chavez said. "I was just out there playing basketball like I was doing the whole game."
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Five-foot-3 Jada Graves drew the first assignment guarding Chavez. The Amarillo senior also scored 11 of her career-high 31 points in the opening quarter. Graves helped seal the game with a pair of possessions that "looked like a layup drill," Monterey coach Jill Schneider said. Schneider said once the Sandies went ahead by eight they spread out the Plainsmen defense, leading to the easy looks.
Graves, whom Williams said was "under the weather," said it was important to start strong.
"I just wanted to come out and just score," Graves said. "I knew my team would follow me if I came out with the good energy. And that's exactly what we did: have good energy the rest of the game."
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No. 4 Amarillo advances to face top-ranked Mansfield Timberview in the region semifinals. The Wolves (37-1) beat the Sandies 66-54 on Nov. 11. That was the second in Timberview's current 34-game winning streak.
The Wolves have lost in the region semifinals each of the past two seasons, to Monterey last year and the Sandies the year before.
"(Timberview is) very senior-laden," Williams said. "All those girls have been there, done that, been in these big games. So that's quite a test for us, but we're excited to have that opportunity to go give them our best shot."
REGION I-5A QUARTERFINAL
Amarillo High 75, Monterey 68
Monterey 16 7 24 21 — 68
Amarillo 20 7 21 27 — 75
Monterey (31-6): Aaliyah Chavez 50, Shamari Wilkerson 1, Zaniyah Wilkerson 2, Ambrosia Cole 9, Ari Johnson 6.
Amarillo High (35-4): Jada Graves 31, Ca'nia Mitchell 10, Taytum Bell 13, Kirbi Simpson 11, Bella Edwards 6, Kensleigh Payne 4.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Amarillo High tops Lubbock Monterey despite Aaliyah Chavez's 50 points
