The Genies rode a roller coaster of emotional ups and downs at the 2003 Grand Canyon State Games, before ending up on the short end of a 16-15 contest with the Arizona Thunder in the tournament's championship game. In their first round game, the Genies had only five players in attendance, but managed to extract an exhausting 26-13 win over the Flagstaff Northstars. Playing without substitutes, the Genies built an early 11-0 lead before tiring, but hung on for the victory. In the second round, the Genies were tied with the Arizona Thunder 26-26, with five seconds remaining in regulation. Against full-court pressure, the girls executed perfectly a length-of-the-court press break and were streaking to the potential winning basket when the referee halted play because of a timekeeping error. The resulting inbound play failed to produce a basket and the Genies eventually lost 31-27 in overtime. Putting aside that disappointing finish, the Genies rallied together the next morning and stunned the Arizona Elite by a score of 16-13. After seeing a seven point lead reduced to one in the game's waning moments, Tara calmly sank two free throws with five seconds left to secure the three-point victory and a rematch in the championship game with the Thunder. This game was every bit as tight as the previous day's encounter. The Genies led by one at the half, but trailed by four with 20 seconds remaining before Cara hit a clutch three-pointer to bring the Genies within one. After using their final timeout to set up their defense, the Genies used full-court pressure to force a turnover with less than ten seconds remaining. However, two shots in the final seconds failed to drop and the Genies were left with a heartbreaking loss. Individual scoring for the tournament follows: Maylinn (12+11+4+0=27); Tara (8+8+4=20); Cathryn (7+2+2+2=13); Cara (3+2+2+5=12); Kelsey (4+0+4=8); Brittany (4+0+0+0=4). Defensive standouts Kelsi and Shannon did not score but also made key contributions throughout the tournament.
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2003 Tournament Results
