Tucson lost to Xavier Prep 77-26 last Friday but the Badgers turned around quickly thanks to a hard-fought 56-43 win over Nogales at home Monday night. The victory moved the Badgers to 3-1 on the year with a trip to Sunnyside (3-1) scheduled for Wednesday. The Badgers made the play-in tournament last year but that avenue to the state playoffs is only available to the 2A Conference this winter.

The initial basketball rankings will be released on Thursday, Feb. 11 and the Badgers are hoping to be ranked within the top 16 or within striking distance. Nogales dropped to 2-3 on the year with a game scheduled for Walden Grove (0-3) Tuesday night. The Apaches also qualified for the play-in phase last year.

Tucson led Nogales 14-9 after the first period and 26-20 at the half but the Apaches closed the gap to 32-30 with about two minutes left in third quarter only to have the Badgers build a 55-39 lead and the eventual 56-43 final.

Tamia Clardy scored 15 points to lead all scorers and Jordyn Okougbo added 11 to help pace the Badgers. Skylar Begay scored 8 and Ahidali Dehuelbes and Kalani Dancer scored 7 each. Debanny Cota made four 3’s to lead the Apaches with 12 points, Daniela Ochoa scored 11 and Astrid Zubiate added 7.

Former Nogales and Pima standout Yahaira Sanchez is sitting at 42 career wins as the head coach of the Apaches but she has a very real connection to the coaching staff at Tucson. Tucson assistant Greta Naranjo won a state championship playing for Blue Ridge and she went on from playing for the University of Arizona to an eventual spot as the head coach at Pima.

While at Pima, current Badger head coach Annette Gutierrez served as Naranjo’s assistant coach and Sanchez was one of their players along with current Badger freshman coach Fee Greenhouse. Gutierrez has 181 career wins with the Badgers.