SportsB Section Friday, Dec. 20, 2013Arizona Daily SunSports Editor: Cody Bashore556-2251, cbashore@azdailysun.com

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Battered Fitzgerald, Palmer prepare for Seahawks • B2

BY NAU SPORTS INFORMATIONThe Northern Arizona women’s basketball

team tried to rally furiously down the stretch, but it was unable to overcome an early Cal

State Northridge run. The Lumberjacks closed within five points late in the game, but eventually fell 64-52 to the Matadors.

“We had a big hole early and we were able to stop the bleeding and get the flow back our way,” said head coach Sue Darling. “We played them even in the second half and we had opportunities but we didn’t value the ball enough. It was disappointing in that sense,

but it was nice to see that we were able to dig our way out of our hole.”

The Lumberjacks (3-4) endured a dismal start to the game and managed to pick up their stride late as they trailed 37-25 at half-time after finding themselves down by as many as 19.

Matadors halt NAU’s 2nd-half charge

See NAU, B3

See WILDCATS, B3

Arizona 69 Southern 43

Arizona men’s next game:

Monday vs. NAU, 8 p.m.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

DII cross country athletes

Four-year sweepFlagstaff High School’s Tatiana Gillick three-peated as an individual champ

at the cross country state meet, and helped her team do the same, and is the Daily Sun’s DII girls cross country athlete of the year for the 4th time.

TATIANA GILLICK has been named the 2013 Arizona Daily Sun Division II Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year. (Kelli Tresgallo/Arizona Daily Sun)

BY MIKE HARTMANSun Sports Writer

When Tatiana Gil-lick fi rst walked through the doors

of Flagstaff High School in 2010 as a freshman, she planned on wearing a soccer jersey. By the time the state

cross country meet came around that year, she was wearing green and running the course.

She placed fi fth overall that year in the state meet and since then claimed three straight individual titles in Division II competition. And every year Gillick came in fi rst, so did the Eagles as a team.

Gillick, for the fourth straight year, has been named the Arizo-na Daily Sun’s DII Cross Coun-try Girls Athlete of the Year for her ability to stay at the top and help others get there too.

“I was able to encourage and keep the girls concentrated on the goal of winning state again,” Gillick said her team’s effort at clinching another title. “Each of us had indi-vidual roles that helped us lead the team. I am a quiet leader, and Stormmy (Boettcher) and Rae (Johnson) helped me out by bringing their lively atti-tude to the team. I thank those two wonderful teammates and friends.”

Gillick said crossing the fi nish line for the last time and watch-ing her teammates do the same was a wistful moment in her senior year.

“It is a bittersweet moment for me, but now I am looking forward to the future,” Gillick said. “It was an amazing feeling winning state one last time with the Lady Eagles cross-country team, and just (being) able to repeat a third time in a row as an individual was a great way to end my last year of cross coun-try with the team.”

Gillick has been the girl to beat since capturing her fi rst cross country title in 2011. But she said knowing there is a tar-get on her back only makes her push harder to make sure other runners always see that target and never pass it.

See GILLICK, B3

INSIDE • B3Mercedes (Ma-haffey) Bedford named MVP for Coconino girls cross country

BY MIKE HARTMANSun Sports Writer

Kaleb Sandoval’s past and his attention to finding success in the future makes him a threat in any race and a significant asset to the Flagstaff Eagles boys cross country team.

In his freshman year, Sandoval ran behind

a strong group of seniors, and what he learned from them must have stuck, because Sandoval’s talents grew, as did his role as leader.

Sandoval is the Arizona Daily Sun’s Division II Boys Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

A look aheadKaleb Sandoval’s success in his sophomore year for

the Flagstaff High boys cross country team positions him as a contender in the future.

See SANDOVAL, B3

Leafs 2 Coyotes 1

(shootout)Coyotes

next game: Saturday at

Ottawa, noonPHOENIX COYOTES DEFENSEMAN Oliver Ekman-Larsson (23) tries to clear the puck under pressure from Toronto Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri (43) as goaltender Mike Smith looks on during the second Thursday in Toronto. (The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn/AP)

TORONTO (AP) —James Reimer lifted his arms in relief after making a shootout save on

Antonie Vermette.By beating the Phoenix Coy-

otes 2-1 in a shootout on Thurs-day night, the Toronto Maple Leafs shook off their recent struggles.

“It hasn’t been a good feel-ing around here the past couple days,” said winger Joffrey Lupul, who scored the shootout winner. “It’s funny how even with an ugly, grind-it-out win like that, you come to the rink tomorrow

feeling a lot better about yourselves.”The Leafs got shootout goals by Lupul and

James van Riemsdyk and a couple of stops from

Reimer, who made 34 saves. The Leafs had the stronger play in regulation

and the elimination of the kind of mistakes that led to 10 losses in their previous 13 games.

“I thought individually guys really limited our turnovers and the chances we gave up for them to try and get opportunities,” said center Peter Holland, who assisted on Troy Bodie’s first-pe-riod goal.

“It just goes to show that when we do execute what we plan on doing, things will fall into place for us.”

Coach Randy Carlyle spent eight-plus hours at the rink Wednesday with the coaching staff on a day off for players devising what he hoped was a plan to turn the Leafs’ fortunes around.

Maple Leafs slip past Coyotes in shootout

See COYOTES, B3

COCONINO HIGH’S ANTHONY WIEDMAIER (54) passes the ball to Anthony Yug (1) during game action against Cesar Chavez at Coconino High School on Thursday. (Kelli Tresgallo/Arizona Daily Sun)

Coconino boys stay close in loss to Cesar ChavezSenior Anthony Yug scores 12 points as the Panthers control the pace against the Division I Champions but fall short in the second half, 58-45.

BY CODY BASHORESun Sports Editor

After holding tight in the first half against the Cesar Chavez High School Champions, the Coconino High School Panthers fell behind in the second half to take a 58-45 loss Thursday night.

The Panthers controlled the tempo of the game on their way to a 29-28 halftime score against the Division I Champions from Laveen. However, Cesar Chavez pulled away after the break with a 16-8 quarter to take control of the game from there on.

Senior guard Anthony Yug led the way for the

Panthers, scoring 12 points on the night. Ju-nior A.J. Singer finished just behind with nine

points. On the boards, junior Jacob

Anderson grabbed five while scoring five points and sopho-more Vincent Figueroa also to-talled five rebounds to go along with four points.

Assistant coach Martin Reyes said despite the loss, the Pan-thers put forth a stellar effort against the Champions and the team grew together overall after the performance.

The Panthers are 0-6 on the season with the loss.

Coconino turns around immediately to face the Mingus Union High School Marauders in Cottonwood tonight at 7 p.m.

Champions 58 Panthers 45

Panthers’next game: Today at Mingus Union,

7 p.m

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

BY JOHN MARSHALLAP Basketball Writer

TUCSON — Aaron Gordon scored 21 points, Nick Johnson added 17 and Arizona opened its second week at No. 1 with a 69-43 rout over

Southern on Thursday night.Arizona (12-0) had no trouble

with the Jaguars early on, rac-ing out to a 15-point halftime lead while playing without in-jured center Kaleb Tarczewski. The second half wasn’t quite as smooth and the Wildcats went 22 of 37 on free throws, but it was good enough to get them to 12-0 for the second straight season.

Brandon Ashley had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Arizona.

Southern (3-8) fought back after a miserable fi rst half, but fell in too deep of a hole to make a game of it. Malcolm Miller and Calvin Godfrey had 11 points each for the Jaguars.

Arizona moved to the top of The Associated Press poll last week for the fi rst time since 2003 and immediately faced two diffi cult tests.

The Wildcats passed both, racing past New Mexico State after stumbling early against the Aggies’ quirky defenses, then rallying from an 11-point defi cit to beat Michigan on the road for what may be their biggest win of an already im-pressive season.

No. 1 Wildcats roll Southern 69-43

Matadors 64 Jacks 52

Lumberjacks’ next game:

Saturday at Pep-perdine, 4:30 p.m

NAU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL