The Flagstaff Eagles advanced to the 4A state semifinals with a 70-40 win over the Greenway Demons in a quarterfinal game Saturday night at Flagstaff High School. Alyssa Harris got the Eagles off to a great start, hitting four three-pointers and scored 14 points in the first quarter to give Flagstaff a 16-8 lead at the end of one. The Eagles extended their lead to 23-8, before the Demons went on a run. Greenway cut the lead to four, before Flagstaff went on a 9-1 run to close out the half and lead 37-24 lead at halftime. During halftime, a half court shooting competition was taking place, which brought out Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez out to give it a shot. He took five shots and went 0-for-5. The second half was all Flagstaff as Gracelyn Nez caught fire, scoring 13 points in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 61-34 lead. Nez led the Eagles with 26 points and Harris added 21 in the win. Gracelyn Nez’s job was to stop, or at least slow down, Greenway’s Kiley Sours-Miller, who came into the game averaging over 20 points and 15 rebounds a game. Sours-Miller finished with just 13 points and four fouls, two of which were charging calls that Nez set. After the win, the team jumped in the high school pool and were joined by head coach Tyrone Johnson. After the game, the Eagles found out they will host Wednesday’s semifinal game as ninth-seeded Shadow Mountain beat top-seeded Deer Valley 39-36. So the Eagles are one home win away from playing for the 4A state title on Monday, February 28th at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. We will have Thursday’s semifinal game on KAFF Country 93.5/AM 930 and online at kafflegends.com starting with the pregame show at 2:45 p.m. We will also be providing the play-by-play for NFHS.com for the game.
To hear the postgame interview with Flagstaff head coach Tyrone Johnson, click here:
