Cibola rolls Gila Ridge

It was raining threes on Monday night.

Cibola came out and build its lead early with three 3-pointers to start off its game against Gila Ridge.

“Sometimes you're on and sometimes you're off,” Cibola coach Justin Hager said. “We were happy to be on tonight. It's not always going to be like that but we'll take it for now.”

The early momentum pushed the Raiders to a 54-36 win over the Hawks (1-1) at the first AWC Jamboree at The House at Arizona Western College.

“I think the better team won to be honest with you,” Gila Ridge coach David Schultz said. “I think they (Cibola) worked a little bit harder than we did defensively and offensively they ran some good sets. Anytime a team knocks down three threes it kind of puts you in a hole.

“We've had quite a few wild games with them. Last year they hit four or five threes right at the end of the fourth quarter. They've got good shooters, they've got good kids so I'm not surprised by it.”

Ashley Doering was responsible for two of the three 3-pointers in the first quarter and racked up three more throughout the game.

“We came out fast and hard,” Doering said. “We were lucky in the beginning to hit our jump shots. In the second quarter we were able to get the ball down low and keep fighting the whole time...You've got to be confident whatever you do.”

Hager said that the Raiders (3-0) did a good job getting Doering the ball, a factor that helped them to their second straight win.

“She (Doering) got some good looks,” Hager said. “She played within herself a little bit, but everyone did a good job and I'm proud of my kids.”

Doering finished the night with 20 points.

Kelsey Pangerl kept things on track for the Raiders in the second half, racking up eight of her 12 points in that time.

“I just wanted that win — big time,” Pangerl said. “Our team deserves it, we've worked really hard.”

Pangerl also came up with six rebounds in the game.

Part of the reason the Hawks couldn't get things moving offensively was due to the coverage Cibola placed on Summer Ehrig.

Ehrig was only able to score seven points, but also picked up a rebound and a steal.

“They did a great job on Summer (Ehrig) tonight, playing good defense and kind of shadowing her all over the court,” Schultz said. “If I was coaching against her, I'd do the same thing. So, we kind of expected that. Summer knew that was going to happen — they played good defense.”

Schultz was impressed by the resilient play of Destiny Dilworth, who had six points and nine rebounds for the Hawks.

“She (Dilworth) really led us out there in the first half,” Schultz said. She's a tough rebounder, a tough kid...She's just a great athlete.”

Gila Ridge will be back on the court at 6 p.m. tonight when they face Brawley on the road. The most important thing is that the Hawks can remember heading into this game is to stay positive, Schultz said.

“It's just about keeping your head up and keep working hard because we're a good basketball team, too,” Schultz said. “Just tonight the better team won, they worked harder than we did. Next time hopefully we can come out on top.”

Cibola's next game isn't until Dec. 13, when they host Lake Havasu.

Erin Redmond can be reached at eredmond@yumasun.com or 539-6880.