Girls hoops: Valley Christian tames Winslow for Timmer's 499th win

January 6, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Valley Christian girls basketball coach Scott Timmer is on the verge of cementing his name alongside Trojans'  boys hoops coach Greg Haagsma as a true dynamic duo.

Batman and Robin. Abbott and Costello. Montana and Rice. Johnson and Schilling. Jordan and Pippen. A slight exaggeration, but you get the gist something extraordinary is about to be achieved with one more girls hoops triumph.

Timmer collected career victory No. 499 at Valley Christian on Wednesday night as the Lady Trojans topped one of Division III's perennially good programs, Winslow, 62-33. Valley Christian (15-1) broke the game open late in the first period with Anna Gorman, Angie Andreas and Hailey Russell leading the way. Gorman led Valley Christian with 21 points, Andreas had 13 points and Hailey Russell chipped in 11 points off the bench.  

Timmer's 500th win could occur as early as Saturday night (Jan. 9) when Valley Christian plays host to Buckeye, a team the Lady Trojans beat handily last week in their Christmas Tournament. It would mean Haagsma and Timmer each would have 500 wins or more in their careers.

Timmer's overall mark of 499-92 in this his 19th season computes to a yearly output of 26 wins and 5 losses. Two state championships (2010 and 2011) are among those. Valley Christian has competed mostly in 2A (D-IV) and lately in 3A (D-III) where the competition particularly from rural Arizona makes titles hard to come by -- Thatcher, St. Johns, Seton Catholic, Winslow, Monument Valley, Window Rock and Page to name a few of the stumbling blocks.

Haagsma, who coached the girls program for a few years, switched to boys for the 1997-1998 season. That's when Timmer began his stint as girls coach. Haagsma has 543 career wins (437 with the boys plus five state titles and 106 with the girls). Haagsma's 500th win came in January 2014, Having two coaches in the same sport at the same school with 500 career wins --  albeit different genders for the most part -- will be a first in Arizona and not likely to happen again. All their wins have been at Valley Christian. Timmer would join five other girls basketball coaches in state history to win 500 games if the Lady Trojans play their usual game.

Timmer and Haagsma have enjoyed a couple decades-plus tours of duty at Valley Christian as tteachers and currently serve as athletic director and assistant athletic director. They have coached their own children or each other's in recent seasons including this year. Suffice it to say the school is a happening place in the gym each and every winter.