by 
Let’s start with the good news.
If the sectional tournament were to start today, the San Manuel girls’ basketball team would be included in the six-team field.
Now, the not-so-fast news.
The Lady Miners will have to continue to play well down the stretch; similar to their play recently, which included winning two of three games last week.
San Manuel defeated Bisbee and Superior earlier last week before giving No. 9 Mogollon all it could handle in a 57 – 52 road loss.
Eneida Quintero, who played perhaps her best game of the year, scored a team-high nine points in the 41 – 33 win against Bisbee. Cita Sweeney added eight points while Angela Navarro, Ashley Vargas, and Lysette Campa each contributed six. Angelica Garcia and Stephanie Morris finished with four and two points, respectively.
“I felt the turning point of the game was when we pressed Bisbee full court with man-to-man pressure, which led to some easy baskets,” Miners’ head coach Dave Jungbluth said.
Angelica Garcia made five three-point baskets on the way to scoring a game-high 17 points, accounting for more than half of the Lady Miners’ points in a 33 – 21 win against Superior on Friday night.
“We are tough to beat when she is hitting her three-pointers,” Jungbluth said about Garcia.
Lysette Campa added five points and Cita Sweeney four more. Navarro had three points, Vargas and Quintero finished with two each.
The Lady Miners played their best game of the year and almost upset the No. 9 team in the state but came up short in a 57 – 52 loss.
The Lady Miners led throughout the entire game until Mogollon took the lead with less than two minutes left in the game.
The difference in the game came at the free throw line, where Mogollon had 18 attempts compared to only two for San Manuel.
Angelica Garcia and Lysette Campa fouled out with about four minutes remaining in the game and despite a great performance by their substitutes, the loss of the duo proved to be too much to overcome in a close game.
Garcia scored a team-high 17 points and Campa had 10.
The Lady Miners have five games remaining in the regular season, including their final two against No. 5 Duncan and No. 3 Ft. Thomas.
Upcoming schedule: Jan. 26 at Hayden, Jan. 28 at Gilbert Classical Academy (5 p.m.), and Jan. 29 vs. Miami. All games are scheduled for 5:30 unless otherwise noted.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
by by