Jayce Cicinelli is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Casteel High School for AZPreps365.com 

Defense. Defense. Defense. Casteel was outplayed by the swarming defenders of Campo Verde Monday night.

The Casteel Colts fell short tonight against Campo Verde 48-42. In their season finale, they surrendered their first home loss since Jan. 12 against Williams Field.

Colts couldn’t find many answers tonight as Campo Verde was relentless defensively forcing 26 turnovers. Casteel only averaged 12 turnovers a game for the season, this was the key for Campo Verde to come out on top. 

Casteel coached by Tylor Wimbish came into tonight with a home record for the season at 9-2 and a conference record of 7-2 which Campo Verde also held. The winner of tonight's game would result in a high seed for the playoffs and would finish second in the 5A San Tan Conference behind Williams Field who finished in first.

The start of the first quarter was rough as Casteel struggled to dribble the ball up the court with the ruthless full court pressure Campo brought all game. Colts also struggled to box out down low which led to multiple offensive rebounds for Campo Verde and led to a hot start behind the arc knocking down a couple as the score was 14-7. 

In the second quarter, the Colts came galloping back due to the excellent three point shooting by the junior forward Amanda Anderson knocking down three in the first half. Guard Jackie Rosado hit a clutch three pointer with two seconds left sparking a 8-0 run by Casteel to end the half trailing by two points 22-20. 

Onto the third quarter, Casteel continued to give up second chance points because of the domination on the offensive glass tonight by Campo Verde. Casteel got in foul trouble and kept turning the ball over which led to a nine point lead by the fourth quarter 40-31.

Once the fourth quarter started, the Colts got off to a quick start forcing turnovers on the defensive end and found themselves down two possessions halfway through the fourth. In crunch time, Campo’s defense got some timely steals which led to Casteel falling short of the comeback losing 48-42.

Casteel lost their season finale at home after having so much success at home throughout the season. Coach Tylor Wimbish and his team are ready to move on after a tough loss tonight. 

“We let their defensive pressure speed things up which led to way too many turnovers throughout the game,” Wimbish said. “This is not how we wanted to finish out the regular season, but I know there are a couple things that are correctable.” 

Junior guard Jackie Rosado came into tonight as the team leader in points averaging 14.7 and continued her brillant season scoring a team high 17 points. 

“Honestly, having confidence not only in myself, but also my teammates knowing if I have a bad game, I know they will pick me up,” Rosado said. “That gives me the motivation to do better which leads to points and scoring.” 

Junior forward Amanda Anderson was the second leading scorer finishing with nine points and was living behind the three point line tonight.

“Just having confidence from my coaches and teammates helps me shoot well and efficiently,” Anderson said. 

The girls are ready to flush this loss down the drain and flip the page heading into the playoffs with a clean mindset.

“Motivation. We all know that was not us tonight and how we normally play,” Rosado said. “We know we are better than that and we make mistakes and can learn from them as we can use this as an eye opener heading into the playoffs.”

“Motivation as well, just keep going and not put our heads down after tonight,” Anderson added. “We just need to keep fighting and never give up.” 

Wimbish and his team finish the season with a 18-9 record as they look to flip the script heading into the playoffs. 

“We just need to get back to work tomorrow as I know and they all know that is not our full potential,” Wimbish said. “The good thing about these girls is they are able to flip the next chapter and get back to work tomorrow.”