Green Valley wins with fourth-quarter fireworks

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 10:50 a.m.

Tied at 34 going into the fourth quarter, Monday's Sunrise Region quarterfinal between Eldorado and Green Valley looked like anything but an offensive battle.

Then the floodgates opened.

"We got the lead of two or four points," Green Valley coach Adam Patai said, "then they'd score, then we'd score."

Green Valley outscored Eldorado 31-24 in the final eight minutes to take a 65-58 victory and advance to the Sunrise semifinals. Billy White led the Gators with 24 points, and Eldorado's Davell Jackson had 29 to lead all scorers.

"Davell Jackson was the man," Patai said. "He just went to the basket every time, and he either got fouled or scored it. He's a competitor -- we had trouble stopping him."

Eldorado coach Phil Olsen said Jackson tried to carry the team on his shoulders but playing without teammate Alfonso McNeal, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, it wasn't enough.

White and guard Jordan Ragan coupled to score 17 of Green Valley's 31 fourth-quarter points.

"That was huge," Patai said. "Billy got aggressive going to the basket. Jordan got some clean looks and knocked them down. We made some defensive plays when we had to, but they were few and far between."

Green Valley will face Rancho at Coronado in a Sunrise Region semifinal Thursday.

Canyon Springs, playing without star guard Juan Pattillo, was up by 14 points in the second quarter before Silverado began coming back. Heiden Ratner led the Skyhawks with 33 points, and Joe Foster added 26 as Silverado won its first playoff game in boys' basketball.

"We went in at halftime, and went to a triangle-and-two," Pisano said. "We don't normally play junk defense, and we struggled a bit, but we went to a triangle-and-two and it worked."

Chris Gordon had 25 points and Antonio Williams added 16 more for the Pioneers.

Kyle Lange had 19 points and Richie Lewis added 16 points for the Wolves.

Josh Rivers scored 21 points for Valley, the top seed from the Northeast Division. The Vikings face Silverado at 4:40 p.m. Thursday at Coronado.

Girls' quarterfinals

"She definitely carried the load on her shoulders," Palo Verde coach Gina Piccolo said. "My other two seniors stepped up as well, coming up with big buckets at various times. It wasn't just one person in that respect."

Brittney Hutchison added 17 points and Don-Nise Coleman had 13 more for the Panthers, who advance to face Centennial in Thursday's Sunset semifinal. Palo Verde has won five of its past six games, the one loss coming to Centennial to close out the regular season.

Lindy LaRocque's 24 points led Durango and Brittany Pham added 16.

"The first playoff win is huge," Shadow Ridge coach Justin Scanson said. "It's a huge step for our program, our athletic program as a whole. The girls put in a lot of time, they dedicated themselves and put in the work this offseason."

Amanda Tietz led the Mustangs with 14 points, adding seven rebounds and six steals.

Kathy Willinsky had 20 points and Terra Novak 17 for Bonanza.

Ashley Gale scored 20 points and Cash Connors 10 to lead Bishop Gorman. Chelsea Hopkins scored 13 to lead Mojave.

Centennial's Italee Lucas led all scorers with 31 points. Clark's Tenica Braxton had 24.

Whitley Cox added 19 points and Ashley Blake had 17 points for the Bulldogs.