PRESCOTT — Jazmine Dugi scored 21 points on five 3-pointers, Morningrain Honani added 18 and Flagstaff opened Grand Canyon region play with a 74-42 win over Prescott on Tuesday night.

It is the fifth victory in six games for the defending 4A state champion Eagles (7-3, 1-0 4A Grand Canyon), which lost 42-39 to 3A state runner up Show Low in the Pepsi Holiday Tournament title game over the weekend.

Longtime Flagstaff head coach Tyrone Johnson said his club has some new faces after their tournament and right now, it’s “all about effort.”

“I thought that they came out, supplied a great effort, had a great energy. If we can do that, regardless of the scoreboard, we can live with those results,” Johnson said about the 32-point victory over Prescott.

The Eagles jumped out to a 21-7 lead after the first quarter of play and capped a 10-5 run with back-to-back 3-pointers by Carter Edison and Dugi to close out the first half with a 40-21 advantage.

Flagstaff's Jazmine Dugi (20) gets ready to jump stop and put in a bucket against Prescott on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in Prescott. Dugi led all scorers with 21 points on five 3-pointers in a 74-42 win for the Eagles. (Brian M. Bergner Jr./AzPreps365)

Flagstaff mostly played man-to-man defense, mixing in a few full-court trapping opportunities as Johnson figures out what he has heading into the second half of the season come January.

“We’re trying to figure out our personal, our rotation and everything. We’re trying to see who has enough heart to guard 94 feet,” Johnson said. “We trying not to do a lot of schemes right now. We want to go straight man-to-man to see if we understand our principals, we can understand when people are out of control and when we can trap. Right now, it’s about figuring everyone out.”

In the third quarter, Honani led the charge by scoring 11 of her 18 as Flagstaff outscored the Badgers 26-14 to put the game away.

The Eagles hit nine 3-pointers as a team, but were just 1 of 7 from the free-throw line.

“We have to continue to get better, we can’t get complacent. We must know this is the beginning, and that there’s other levels we can go to as far as our work ethic and execution,” Johnson said. “We’re smaller so we have to be able to rebound. We must get better to get there.”

The Badgers (5-5, 0-1 4A Grand Canyon) have lost back-to-back contests after winning three straight against Tempe, Cortez and Marcos de Niza.

Rayne Libis, a junior guard, led Prescott with 13 points. She was the only Badger to score in double figures. Bella Abt and Ruby Jensen each added eight points in the loss.

Head coach Jami Johnson said she was “glad” to open region play with Flagstaff.

“It really shows us where we need to go and what we need to do to work on and get better,” Johnson said, adding that she has two-plus weeks to get her players in front of game film, and in practice, to work on their weaknesses, including “executing” better.

“That’s our problem right now, we need to execute more on offense, and work out some stuff on defense. This will be a good time for us to get that work in,” Johnson said. “We’ll have those tournament games to get some experience.”

The Lady Badgers Winter Classic is scheduled to open Dec. 29.

UP NEXT

Flagstaff has two more games before Christmas break, both of which are at home starting with Cactus Shadows on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.

The Eagles will host region rival Lee Williams on Friday, Dec. 15, to close out the first half of the 2023-24 season. Tipoff Friday is set for 7 p.m.

Prescott is scheduled to open their holiday tournament against Arcadia on Dec. 29. Tipoff is set for 10:30 a.m.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on Twitter @AzPreps365Brian. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.