6A hoops semis: Valley Vista girls earn shot at repeat

February 21, 2018 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Valley Vista's Rysha Banner (2) and Taylor Chavez (3) break pressure but caused a bunch during their win over Gilbert. (AZPreps365 photo)

The recipe for defeating Gilbert's' girls basketball team is to try and slow twin guards Haley and Hanna Cavinder. Valley Vista knows how.

For the second time this season Valley Vista's defense clamped down on the Cavinders - this time long enought to propell the second-seeded Monsoon to a 59-44 victory on Wednesday afternoon over the third-seeded Tigers in the 6A semifinals at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena.

Valley Vista earned the chance to repeat as 6A champions. The Monsoon face No. 5 Xavier Prep, a 50-48 winner over No. 1 Millennium in the late semifiinal. The 6A girls title game is set for Wednesday Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena. Gilbert (26-4) bowed out in the semis for the second year in a row., but will have four starters back next season.

The defensive assignments Wednesday on Gilbert's top scorers fell to senior guards Taylor Chavez and Rysha Banner. They limited the Cavinders to 16 points combined through three quarters. They average 45 a game combined. Gilbert never mounted a serious threat in the fourth quarter cutting the lead to eight for a brief moment. The Cavinders finished combining for 31 in this one -- Haley 22 and Hanna 9. They connected on 10 of 32 shots. 

Valley Vista knocked off Gilbert 61-42 at Highland's Thanksgiving Invitational. The Monsoon Valley limited the Cavinders to 23 points total that night on 6 of 28 shooting.hat's half their combined season average (45 points) on a combined 6 of 28 shooting. 

"We knew they were handing off for assists or putting up shots, so we felt we had a pretty good shot if we could lock them down," Chavez said.

Chavez wasn't a factor scoring in the game really, but finished with 14 as she sank a bunch of free throws down the stretch to keep the lead in double digits. Chavez was doing a little of everything as the game progressed besides scoring. She finished with a team-high 11 rebounds, five assists and six steals.

"I think they were keying on me and that opened it up for others," Chavez said. 

Fellow senior Clarissa Rodarte led Valley Vista with 15 points, Banner added 12 and freshman Marisa Davis checked in with nine to round out the starters scoring. Davis scored eight of her points in the first quarter when Valley Vista built an 18-11 lead and got quality shots the entire period.

"It's always not about one player with us," Valley Vista coach Rachel Matakas said. ".....We got off to a fast start and our plan was to attack the rim and create mismatches."

Valley Vista scored twice as many points in the paint as Gilbert and outscored the Tigers 19-9 in points off turnovers. Gilbert made 7 of 17 three-point shots, but five of those came in the fourth period.