Mariah Graves is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Rancho Solano Prep for AZPreps365.com

Rancho Solano had a slow start to its 2A Valley match-up against Cicero Prep on Monday. The Mustangs were leading the Centurions for the first two quarters putting up 12 points on the board. However, the third quarter is where things took a turn. 

By the third quarter, you could tell the Centurions were not accustomed to giving up. They used their successful ball movement and hard defense to tie the game, 18-18, heading into the fourth quarter. 

The two teams battled it out for the final period. Cicero Prep made a free throw, but the Mustangs got the lead back on a 3-pointer. With three minutes to go the Centurions made a 3-point shot to make it 22-21 and then added a layup to make it 24-21.

Rancho Solano then made it 24-23 with a layup.  

With less than a minute left, a foul was called on Cicero Prep and Rancho Solano’s Leah Darwin made a free throw to tie the game, 24-24, and force overtime. 

In overtime, the Mustangs were energetic and gave it their all but their shots just weren’t cutting it. They failed to score in the overtime and Cicero went on a 5-0 run.

Rancho Solano coach Kari LaPlante said her team brought a lot of defensive intensity, rotated well, and got some good shots up but it just wasn’t their night.  

Senior Maddie Liley said the Mustangs' game plan going into overtime was to have a lot of effort and get their shots in the basket. 

“For overtime, we had a few game plans... to have specific players make shots,” Liley said. “We just have to work on getting our shots up and landing.” 

Senior Hayley White said the whole team’s game plan was to give it all the energy they had in the last couple minutes of the game. 

“We just had to give it all we got because if we were going to win tonight that’s what we had to do,” White said. 

With such a tight turnaround to their final regular-season game Tuesday night, LaPlante is trying to keep the team’s momentum going towards the playoffs. 

“I think it helps to have these two back-to-back games to get that energy,” LaPlante said. “I told the girls to forget tonight, tomorrow’s a new game. Learn what we did incorrectly and what we did correctly and let’s bring it.” 

White said, “I think tomorrow we really have to work on being focused and being ready way before our game. Having that mentality that we are going to give it all we got.” 

Rancho Solano (5-5) will  host Lincoln Prep  (4-8) at 4 p.m. Tuesday. 

Cicero Prep (6-8) will host Heritage Academy (2-15) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Considering playoffs are near, the Mustangs need to make major improvements to their shooting and ball movement to be successful as a team. 

“I think one thing we really need to work on is being ready to catch the ball because we do move the ball around a lot," White said. "But the issue is finishing our passes. We have to work on making sure our shots fall and take our time when we’re shooting.” 

“Our team especially likes to play hot potato with the ball," Liley said. "We can move the ball pretty well but almost too much to where we don’t look at the basket. So ball movement is extremely important."

White said, “We worked hard until the very end, and at the end of the day that’s all we can really ask for.”