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Sometimes a new coach may claim some ignorance about the past. But Juan Diego's Josh Archuleta knows all about how recent playoff appearances for the Soaring Eagle have gone in girls basketball.
Archuleta, in Year One at the Draper school, has Juan Diego going in the right direction — at least at the start of the season.
The Soaring Eagle moved to a 6-0 record Thursday night by pounding West, 62-36, behind Domonique Mills' 22 points and 17 more from her sister Monique Mills.
"You can pencil them in for 35 a night, so it's the other four or five spots that'll really tell where we're going to go in the end," Archuleta said.
"They've been a successful group since they (the Mills) have been here, getting 17 wins a season," he added. "But it's those extra pieces that will get us where we want to go in the playoffs."
Juan Diego held the lead from the get-go over the Panthers as Domonique Mills scored her team's first six points. But West (1-5), despite nine first quarter turnovers, was still in the game through midway through the second period.
Led by Nadija Demic's 11 points, the Panthers made the score 23-17 when Demic banked in a shot with 4:02 left before intermission.
But after a Soaring Eagle timeout, Juan Diego scored the last 12 points of the half and put the game into cruise control.
"The offense will come, but the defense we can do every day," Archuleta said. "The offense is hit-and-miss; we get it in spurts. We're still averaging 70 points a game, but it's not the kind of 70 points I want."
Leading 35-17 as the third quarter started, Juan Diego got a couple of inside buckets from Ann Nelson to kick off the second half. Becca Curran scored six points, and Brynn Drummond added five to supplement the scoring of the Millses.
West immediately gets back on the court with another road game Friday at Davis. Before the Panthers' region slate gets started, a game against Lone Peak also looms.
"Right now, we're just trying to feel our way. We don't have any of our starters from last year, and the kids are just feeling each other out," West coach Ronnie Stubbs said. "We play hard, and that's all I want right now. This [Juan Diego] is a really, really good team. They've got the Mills sisters and some other players, too. We're just trying to get prepared for our region." —
Juan Diego 62, West 36
R Juan Diego's Domonique Mills scores 22 points, and her sister Monique nets 17 points.
Nadija Demic leads West with 11 points.