JJ Nakai (Navajo) scores 32 points but second quarter hurt Aztecs women’s basketball in loss to Kansas City Kansas CC

Time ran out on the Pima Community College women’s basketball team on Wednesday in its NJCAA Division II Tournament quarterfinal game.

• The No. 6 seeded Aztecs fell to No. 3 Kansas City Kansas Community College 82-68 and will now play in the consolation bracket game on Thursday.
• Down 74-52 with 6:07 left in the game, the Aztecs continued to claw and went on a 16-4 run in five and a half minutes to cut it to 78-68 with 1:29 left. The Blue Devils scored the final four points of the game to close it out.
• The Aztecs struggled with keeping the Blue Devils off the offensive glass as Kansas City opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run and put the Aztecs in a 25-13 hole. The Aztecs were outscored 23-7 for the quarter and trailed 36-20 at the break. The Blue Devils had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and finished with 16 for the game.
•  “The second quarter got away from us but we knew it was going to be a fight,” Pima coach Todd Holthaus said. “They’re a super athletic team; they can shoot the 3 (pointer), go inside like a team we probably haven’t seen all year. I challenged them at halftime and I said, ‘Hey look we can’t mail this in, we got to come out fighting.’ We cut a 20-point lead down to 10. I couldn’t be prouder of the effort. The ladies stayed in the fight; doing the little things we asked and the things we take pride in every day.”
• The Blue Devils went on a 7-0 run to start the third quarter as the Aztecs trailed by as much as 26 points at 50-24.
• Sophomore Jacqulynn Nakai (Navajo) scored a game-high 32 points on 10 for 23 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, six steals and four assists. She scored 13 of Pima’s 16 points during a stretch in the third quarter.
• Freshman Hallie Lawson (Navajo) finished with 10 points on 3 for 4 shooting while freshman Alyssa Perez (Marana HS) fell short of a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Shauna Bribiescas (Navajo) had eight points.

The Aztecs will play No. 2 seed North Iowa Area Community College (28-6) on Thursday in a consolation bracket game. Tipoff is at 3:00 p.m. (CT); 1:00 p.m. (MST).