Basketball Recap: Jocelyn Ortega's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Sahuarita over Douglas

Sahuarita fought the good fight in their overtime contest against Douglas on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Douglas Bulldogs by a score of 75-73. The Mustangs haven't had much luck with the Bulldogs recently, as the team has come up short the last five times they've met.

Jocelyn Ortega

Rebounds (Career)

02/04/25 @ Douglas	8
01/18/24 @ Walden Grove	6
11/30/23 vs Pueblo	6
01/10/25 vs Walden Grove	5
12/01/23 @ Safford	5

Several Mustangs players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Jocelyn Ortega, who went 9-for-17 en route to 23 points and eight rebounds. The dominant performance gave Ortega a new career-high in boards. Addison Elam was another key player, going 9-for-20 on her way to 18 points and eight rebounds.

Even though they lost, Sahuarita smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in six consecutive matchups.

Francia Rubio continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines for Douglas, going 19-for-37 to rack up 49 points along with seven boards and six assists. Rubio has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more steals the last 16 times she's played. Another player making a difference was Keyra Espinosa, who posted 11 points and three steals.

Sahuarita's defeat dropped their record down to 11-13. As for Douglas, the win (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 21-3.

Sahuarita didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 60-12 victory against Cholla on the 6th. As for Douglas, they have also already played their next contest, a 48-37 win against Amphitheater on the 6th.