Basketball Recap: Morenci Comes Up Short

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Morenci can now relate to. They fell 75-68 to the Tombstone Yellow Jackets on Thursday. Unfortunately, that's the third time they've come up short against the Yellow Jackets this season, with their most recent defeat being a 56-45 loss two weeks ago.

Tiara Jones

Rebounds

02/13/25 @ Tombstone	17
01/10/25 vs Willcox	15
12/16/24 @ Tombstone	15
12/09/24 @ Thatcher	15
12/05/24 vs Empire	13
+ 24 more games

When it comes to explaining why Morenci lost, don't look at Tiara Jones. Despite the final result, she dropped a double-double with 25 points and 17 boards. Jones has become a key player for Morenci: the team is 6-2 when she posts at least ten rebounds, but 6-15 otherwise. Talia McCabe was another key player, on her way to 19 points and five boards.

Even though they lost, Morenci smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 20 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in six consecutive matchups.

Rachel Thursby continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines for Tombstone, to rack up 23 points and eight rebounds. The game was Thursby's fifth in a row with at least 17 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Briella Schuller, who dropped a double-double with 14 points and 18 boards.

Morenci has traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four contests. That's put a noticeable dent in their 12-17 record this season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.5 points over those games. The win (which was Tombstone's sixth in a row) raised their record to 24-5.

Morenci does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Tombstone, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 75-43 victory against Mohave Accelerated on the 17th.