Flagstaff Beats Mountain Ridge In The Open First Round, Faces Pinnacle Thursday

The tenth-seeded Flagstaff Eagles jumped on the 23rd-seed Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions early and never let them up as the Eagles cruised to a 65-36 win in round one of the inaugural girls Open Bracket state playoffs. Freshman Bella Burcar led the Eagles with 14 points and Morning Honani added 12 in the win. Hannah Uhlenhop led the Mountain Lions with 11 points and Miyah Verse was held to eight points, six coming in the second quarter. Flagstaff moves onto the second round of the Open Bracket to take on the seventh-seeded Pinnacle Pioneers, who beat number-26 Nogales, 53-34 Tuesday. The game will be played at Pinnacle Thursday night. Tip time is at 7 p.m. Mountain Ridge will now be placed in the 6A State Championship bracket. If Flagstaff wins Thursday, they will stay in the Open Bracket the rest of the way and will play either number-two Perry or number-15 Betty Fairfax in the quarterfinals. A loss will move Flagstaff into the 4A state playoffs next week.