Pusch Ridge beat Florence 55-20 Tuesday night at home in a win highlighted by senior standout Molly Garnand scoring her 1,000th career point early on in the contest. Garnand (6-1) is headed to Westmont next year but the forward is hoping to help the Lions prepare for another playoff run before she is finished.

“We’re doing pretty well, we’re kind of on the uphill right now after we dropped a little towards the beginning of the season but we’ve learned a lot,” Garnand said. “It will be good for us to get together over the next few weeks.”

At 5-2 in power ranking games with losses to 5A powers Nogales (6-0) and Ironwood Ridge (6-2), Pusch Ridge is looking for a favorable spot when the initial 3A rankings are released this Thursday.

Garnand finished with 14 points against Florence in limited action due to the score differential and her junior teammate Sedona Dietrich led all scorers with 16 points. Freshman standout Noelle Mulvanny added 10 points and senior forward Vienna Elliott scored eight.

Florence (5-2) struggled early with only five points scored in the opening quarter and those came from senior guard Elena Jimenez who finished with a team-high 11 points. Junior Aubrey Farmer added six for the Gophers.

The Gophers will host ALA - Anthem South (0-3) Friday night and the Lions will begin 3A South Region play in difficult fashion with Thatcher (3-0) coming in on Friday. The top two teams in region play in the 3A Conference will make the 24-team state playoffs. There will not be a Play-In Tournament for the 3A Conference this year with all seeding done based on ranking. The top eight teams will earn a bye in the first round set for Tuesday, Feb. 14.