Girls Basketball: Tanque Verde over Flowing Wells 54-44

December 19, 2019 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Kailee Cullinan (15) is guarding Flowing Wells standout Milinda Arguellez. (Andy Morales/APreps365.com)

Tanque Verde moved to 7-1 on the year thanks to a 54-44 victory at Flowing Wells Thursday night. The Hawks will take a break before heading out to the Lady Titan Winter Hoops Classic slated to start on Dec. 26 at Arcadia High School.

Senior standout Emma Morris scored 10 points in the win, leaving her three points shy of 1,000 career points. The 6-foot-1 wing player will most likely reach the milestone against Horizon (6-6) at the tournament.

Tanque Verde led 21-18 with 3:24 left in the second quarter but Emma Wall and Kailee Cullinan fueled a 21-9 run to put the Hawks up 42-27 after three. Wall and Cullinan scored 16 points each and Christine Cullinan added eight more to lead Tanque Verde.

Milinda Arguellez scored a game-high 24 points for the Caballeros and she moved closer to the 1,000-point club with a trip to Catalina scheduled for Friday night. The junior guard is sitting at 955 points and she is on track to finish near the top of the career scoring list for Flowing Wells. That exclusive list is led by former UNLV standout Taneisha Gossett. Gossett was the fifth player in Arizona history to break 2,000 career points when she graduated from Flowing Wells in 1994.

Freshman point guard Leamsi Acuna scored six points for Flowing Wells.

“I’m really excited about my team this year,” Arguellez said. “We have a lot of new players and a new point guard. I really like having Leamsi as my point guard.”

Morris was hampered by foul trouble and Flowing Wells kept her from breaking 1,000 points on their home court but Morris hit a 3-pointer with 5:24 to put Tanque Verde up 49-33 and the team held on for the 54-44 win.

“I like our team this year and most of us have played together for four to five years,” Morris said. “We have a really good dynamic and we work well together. I’m not feeling any pressure and I’m hoping to just have fun my senior year.”

Tanque Verde made it to the 3A quarterfinals last year after posting the second best record in school history (23-8) and the Caballeros finished ranked No. 25 in 5A, one spot short of the play-in bracket.

Flowing Wells will host the Holiday Shootout from Dec. 27-28 and 16 teams are scheduled: Amphitheater, Buena, Catalina Foothills, Desert Christian, Empire, Flowing Wells, Kofa, Marana, Georgetown (TX), Nogales, Palo Verde, Walden Grove, Rincon/University, Sahuaro, Sunnyside and Thatcher.

Sabino will host the Holiday Tournament for boys with 12 teams scheduled: Canyon Del Oro, Palo Verde, Flowing Wells, Kofa, Cibola, Sahuaro, Catalina, Sabino, Amphitheater, Desert View, The Gregory School and Westwood.

(Emma Morris/Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)