Dyesha Stahley cuts the net after Dobson's state title win. The senior provided a gutsy effort in the win.
Photo by Jim Willittes
It took a bum knee, but
Dyesha Stahley finally played the game at the pace needed to be at her best.
The
Dobson (Mesa) senior guard led her team to a Division I state title on Monday, beating
Millennium (Goodyear) 58-49 at Gila River Arena despite playing with a grade 2 MCL tear in her left knee sustained in the first quarter of the semifinal win over Liberty.
"She is too tough to sit this one out," Dobson coach Tyler Dumas said. "She finally played the game at the speed I've been wanting her to for four years."
View the MaxPreps Arizona basketball playoff brackets: Boys / GirlsHe can kid because Stahley and the Mustangs were able to take over the fourth quarter – she outscored Millennium 11-8 herself – on the way to the championship.
"She was probably at 65 percent or so," he said. "But she is a kid who eats right, takes care of herself and does everything we ask her to do."
Stahley, who finished with 13 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals, had only two points at the half, but got in the flow of the game when she hit a 3-pointer near the end of the third quarter and started the fourth with another 3-pointer to close within 41-40.
"At halftime, they were telling me ‘You can do this, we believe in you,'" said Stahley, who had her knee re-wrapped. "It really helped my confidence because I was really down. I was like 'This is the state championship game and I am not doing anything.' I knew we can do this but I needed to find a way to get involved somehow.
"Passion (Amukamara) is a great defender. I was like 'She is going to make me work for everything' and that's what I did."
All that despite the fact that she could "barely move" on Saturday according to her coach. She worked through it over the weekend, wore a sleeve over it to start the game but took it off when she had it re-taped at the first TV timeout because it wasn't tight enough.
"I just tried to keep working and get a little something," Stahley said. "Thank God it came."
In the boys Division I game, a senior from
Corona del Sol (Tempe) got it going early as the Aztecs dominated
Desert Vista (Phoenix) 57-32 for their state record-tying fourth-straight big schools championship.
Senior
Dane Kuiper, along with one of the best man-to-man defensive efforts by a starting five you'll see, was the key, as he had eight points, six rebounds and five assists as Corona led 31-13 at one point.
He finished with a game-high 17 points, 10 rebounds and a team-high six assists.
"Dane was outstanding tonight," Corona coach Sammy Duane Jr. said. "Dane was so active defensively. He was getting boards, he was running the floor. Dane was really good tonight."
Kuiper, who is headed to New Mexico, moved to Arizona from Alaska before his junior season and made an immediate impact but probably never got his due because of the presence of other superstars.
"It doesn't bother me that much though, because I know I can be a big impact on the defensive end and score when I need to," Kuiper said. "When I can just do that for (my teammates) it's great."
Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Prep Sports Director for 1013 Communications, is a 20-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com.
