Nike TOC Review: Key takeaways from the Perry vs. Valley Vista game
Perry and Valley Vista are known to be two of the top 6A teams in the state of Arizona, so when they were scheduled to meet on Friday at the Nike Tournament of Champions, everyone knew it would be nothing…
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Continue ReadingPerry and Valley Vista are known to be two of the top 6A teams in the state of Arizona, so when they were scheduled to meet on Friday at the Nike Tournament of Champions, everyone knew it would be nothing short of exciting. The two faced each other in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs earlier this year, where Valley Vista won 80-63.
When they met on Friday, it was a bit of a different game but had the same type of playoff feel to it.
Here are three takeaways from the game
- Junior Jayden James is a rebounding machine
- In the game against the Monsoon, James was putting in work in the paint to get the rebounds, both offensively and defensively. She’s a skilled and athletic player and she’s got both the strength and energy to fight for the rebounds the entire game. She also doesn’t mind getting gritty and fighting her way in to at least attempt to force a jump ball.
- Freshman Olivia Arvallo is the future of the Valley Vista program
- Valley Vista’s roster has a lot of sophomores and juniors, so don’t expect them to fall from their rankings among the top of the division any time soon. However, there is one player who you should be on the lookout for from early on, and that’s Olivia Arvallo. As a freshman, she gets a decent amount of playing time and she helps the team out immensely.
- Be on the lookout for Grace Oken
- As a Junior, she has a fair amount of experience playing, but it’s easy to lose track of her with how much depth the junior class has. She might be a bench player, but she has the ability to be a secret weapon for the Pumas in future.
I would not be surprised to see these two teams meet in the playoffs again this year. The question is, if they do meet again, will Perry have learned enough from the last two losses to get the win when it matters most, or will Valley Vista still hold the upper hand? Time will tell.