Conor Bonfiglio is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism Masters student assigned to cover Canyon View for AZPreps365.com

WADDELL – In the first round of the Division 5A state championship, the Canyon View girls basketball team took care of business Tuesday night, defeating the visiting Cienega Bobcats, 43-28. Cienega, the 11-seed, traveled three hours northwest from Vail to face the No. 6 seed Jaguars.

Strong first half performances from the Spickler sisters propelled Canyon View to a 30-17 lead after two quarters.

Senior guard Cadiyn Spickler opened the scoring with a left-wing three, then began to assist on buckets as well. She found senior forward Taylor Jacobs down low on the block for an easy layup. Junior forward Avery Spickler joined the action with a deep ball of her own, assisted by Madison Reibel. The Spicklers scored or assisted on 60% on the points in the first half.

Canyon View executed on both sides of the ball, shutting down Ariyanna Sorensen, Cienega’s leading scorer and rebounder. Sorensen entered the game averaging 12 points and nearly nine rebounds per game. She was held to four points on one-of-nine shooting from the field.

“We are a big defense team,” Caidyn Spickler said. “We pride ourselves on defense. We are very big on communicating and I knew that I was able to pressure her, and my teammates would be there to help me.”

Cienega guard Kylie Edris, who entered the game as the Bobcats' assists leader and floor general, also struggled. She shot three of 11 from the field and tallied a measly one dime.

Canyon View Head coach Desirae Carranza credited her team’s ability to talk on the floor for its impressive defensive play.

“I think the pressure, communicating on the floor, knowing where (Sorensen and Edris) were, and talking to each other,” Carranza said. “And pressure. A lot of pressure, trying to deny them (the basketball) in some possessions.”

Canyon View’s team defense was stifling, forcing turnovers and capitalizing on Cienega miscues all night. The Jaguars also outrebounded Cienega, 41-35.

“Those were things that we focused on this week,” Carranza said. “We talked about crashing boards hard and making sure we box out and handle business with our assignments tonight defensively.”

 

Canyon View's defense was locked and loaded all night, forcing turnovers and applying pressure when necessary (Conor Bonfiglio/AZPreps365)

As the third quarter began, it appeared the rims on both sides of the court were closed for business. After an offensive barrage in the first half, the Lady Jaguars only scored four points in the third quarter. Unfortunately for Cienega, they only managed five points in eight minutes.

Carranza motivated her squad into busting the game open and putting Cienega away for good.

“I told them to bring the energy and the intensity,” Carranza said. “We were having trouble scoring a little bit, got in foul trouble and I think that shook us getting in foul trouble. I talked to them about staying intense and to keep pushing.”

Canyon View finished strong, holding Cienega to six points in the fourth quarter and scoring nine of its own. Clutch free throws from Mia Burgess and Avery Spickler coupled by a sweet fadeaway jumper from Angelina Thiel sealed the deal.

The Jaguars (22-2, 6-2) will face the 3-seed Millennium Tigers on Friday night. Millennium has handed Canyon View its only two losses of the season. Friday’s second-round matchup becomes the most anticipated game in the entire bracket.

After two losses against the same team, Caidyn Spickler now knows what it will take to snatch the Millennium monkey of their backs.

“We need to start off strong,” Spickler said. “Each time we play Millennium, we start off strong defensively, but our offense struggles, and we lack in the scoring. We just have to come out there, we have to distribute, we have to play team basketball and we have to score.”