There is no substitute for experience and after a sluggish start, the Millennium Tigers turned up the heat and rolled past Sunrise Mountain 59-30 to claim their second consecutive 5A Girls State Championship Monday evening at Desert Financial Arena on the campus of Arizona State University.
The Mustangs put together a nice opening quarter and only trailed 15-12 after the first eight minutes. However, that was as close as the game would ever be again as Millennium outscored Sunrise 25-6 in the second quarter and put the game away with a combination of pressure defense and easy baskets in transition.
Just watched Millennium girls hoops go back-to-back by winning the 2020 5A hoops title. @ArizonaVarsity pic.twitter.com/c5ha8XbuqM
— Ralph Amsden (@ralphamsden) March 3, 2020
The star for the Tigers was once again senior forward Alexandra Zelaya who poured in a game-high 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. The 6-foot-4, University of North Carolina signee also blocked four shots and altered several others in the lane.
Millennium had 14 steals and held a distinct 50-29 advantage on the glass.
Amoret Maxwell had 11 points, while Trayanna Crisp added 10 for Millennium.
Big shoutout to Coach Tolle and @SMHS_GirlsHoops on a fantastic year. Was impressed with how hard they battled for 32 minutes; great coach, great kids, great program.
— Lady Tiger Basketball (@MHSLadyBBall) March 3, 2020
Sunrise Mountain was paced Teryn Demaree who scored 16 but the Mustangs didn’t hit double figures in points in any of the final three quarters.