Millennium shocks Perry in girls' Open basketball semis behind Elli Guiney's big night

At one end of the court inside Gilbert High’s gym Thursday night, Perry’s players walked, steady and unflinching, towards the bench. One had her hands on her head. Several bore slumped shoulders. Others couldn’t bring themselves to emote.

This was supposed to be their night — the night they capped off a 24-2 regular season with a trip to the state’s first Open Division championship game. The night they set up a battle with Desert Vista. Jerzy Robinson vs. Khamil Pierre; No. 1 vs. No. 2. Since December, that much has felt preordained.

At the other end of the court was the reason destiny didn’t manifest itself. Once the clock finally ticked below one second, the buzzer imminent, Elli Guiney let herself celebrate. The junior tore out of her defensive stance, sprinting first towards Alayna Boss and then to the Millennium bench, where she met Kayda Pierce in a leaping hug, soon to be mobbed by teammates.

“I'm so excited to be able to have another moment with this group,” Guiney said.

That’s what she earned Thursday night, when she scored 25 points to lead No. 6 seed Millennium to a 45-39 shocker over Perry.

Just three days earlier, Monday’s emotional win over Perry was the quintessential team effort. No Millennium player scored more than 12 points. Guiney, their leading scorer all season, had just 10.

Thursday was the opposite. This was all about Guiney.

Midway through the first quarter, around the time she hit a wing three to give Millennium its first lead, her teammates realized she was in a different type of groove.

“She was making everything and we knew we had to feed her the ball,” senior point guard Mia Amundsen said. “You gotta feed the hot hand and that's how you win games. When you find who's on fire, you give them the ball and they're gonna take care of it.”

In the first half, Millennium followed that order. Give the ball to Guiney, let her do the rest. And so she did, reversing the order of star power on a night that should have been all about Pierre.

This was not a matter of Pierre playing poorly. She finished the night with 21 of her own and dominated the offensive glass. But by throwing bodies at her and “trying to jam her every time she touched the ball,” as coach Danny Soliman put it, Millennium was able to stifle Pierre enough to give itself a chance.

From there, Guiney dominated. Take the sequence midway through the second quarter, when Pierre put a body on Guiney in the paint, forcing her to step out to the perimeter. As Guiney gave up on receiving an entry pass, Pierre clapped, pleased with her efforts. But Guiney quickly reset, spotted up in the left corner, and drained a three over Pierre’s outstretched right hand.

For a bit more flair, take the sequence at the end of that same quarter. With under a minute to go, Guiney took the ball inside her own 3-point arc, dribbled across half-court, went behind the back and slalomed her way to the basket for a layup. One possession later, she got just enough separation with a tidy stepback to hit her fourth three of the game as time ran out on the half.

With that, the halftime score read: Guiney 20, Perry 20. Add in her teammates’ contributions and Millennium led by eight.

The second half wasn’t as steady. Perry began faceguarding Guiney, forcing her to delegate the scoring responsibilities. And for a while, it worked. The Pumas pulled all the way back into a 34-34 tie with just over three minutes to play.

But thanks to its tenacious defensive effort, Millennium never allowed Perry to take the lead. Then, finally, its offensive versatility shone through. With 2:47 left, Amundsen rattled home a corner three. A minute later, Boss hit nothing but net from the left wing.

This, though, was Guiney’s night. So it ended with her. It had to end with her.

With 14 seconds to go and the game still in the balance, she positioned herself for a loose rebound off a missed free throw, rose over one Perry player and ripped the ball from another, drawing a foul as she fell to the hardwood.

“First to the floor, first to loose balls,” Soliman said. “They did it, exactly what we said.”

On Monday night, in a similar situation, Guiney missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving Seton Catholic one last chance. On Thursday, there was to be no repeat. Instead, she calmly stepped to the line, washed away any negative thoughts, scored her 24th and 25th points and sent Millennium to the state championship game.

“She's a big-time player and this is a big-time game,” Soliman said. “And that's what kids like that do.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Millennium shocks Perry in girls' Open basketball semifinal game